A Promise to Keep
by BloodyCow
Summary: A letter in one hand and a bloodied sword in the other. A promise to keep and 15 pounds of metal and gunpowder on his hips. He never was one to really go back to the proud institution he knew even if it was to keep a promise but what choice does he have? After all, an Arc never goes back on his word. (AU) (Hunter!Older!Jaune x ?) (With elements of Devil May Cry)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hellooooo! BloodyCow, here! With another story to tell. This may not be my original plan (Which was fixing my first story), but here I am making another one. So, anyway, here's a Jaune-centric story. He's older here around 26 years old and graduated Beacon to become a huntsman. His fighting style was based on Dante from Devil May Cry - the latest installment in the Devil May Cry series. But he will be the same Jaune as in canon. His semblance will be the same as in canon (For those that haven't completely watched Volume 5 of RWBY may not really know that Jaune finally has a semblance; albeit, it's really vague on what it does.).**

 **Story Tags: Adventure, Romance, Slight Humor, Family**

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 **Chapter 1**

He was never one to go back on his words. Even if others try to break them, he wouldn't. Jaune Arc wouldn't do something as disgraceful as that. He made a promise and he wasn't going to break that. No, never again. Not after Atlas… Ugh, he was still having nightmares about that one.

It's been a long time since he walked through the streets of his once-thought-of home. The sun had long since set but people still walked about, dust-powered vehicles still on the roads and — get a load of this — food stalls! There were still food stalls on the streets of Vale. Damn, it's been a long time since he's ever had a good chow. Then again, living in the woods of a forgotten world would do that to you. Just a whiff of those delicious meals was enough to get his stomach rumbling.

Oh, he's definitely coming back here…

The air here was… stale, compared to the outside world. It's not something that he really was a fan of. A cacophony of sounds and noises came from the still busy market that he just walked past through made him want to escape from. But none of them were that important to warrant his attention.

But tonight, he really doesn't have business in Vale. No, he's purpose lies within that high tower that was visible even in downtown Vale. Once upon a time, he was a giddy little child hoping and wishing to become just like those in the stories his mother used to tell him. A hero — a huntsman. His father was a huntsman and a badass as well. But he was just too busy trying to keep the village they were in safe to ever get some training in with his son.

The village he used to live in was farther away from Vale so it needed a lot of huntsmen just to keep it safe. But that's a story for another time. For now, he had a promise to keep.

Still though, would the bullheads to Beacon even be running at this time of night? He doubted they would be. Beacon had a curfew to maintain and the students there would take full advantage of the bullheads if they were still running at this time.

So, it looks like he'll be hitting the sack for the night only problem was where.

The sound of glass shattering caught his attention. It seems there was a fight going on but between whom, he didn't know. A guy in a black suit with a fedora and red glasses was thrown out of a window of a shop. It wouldn't have been funny if the person that threw him wasn't a 14 to 15-year-old girl in a red hood and a black gothic dress with red frills.

Seriously, he was laughing his ass off. "Oh my god, that is funny as hell…" He said. Who knew that a pipsqueak of a teenager in a gothic outfit would be able to throw a grown-ass man through a window? Oh, definitely not him.

That was when the pipsqueak pulled out a giant gardening tool — in red too, might he add. Now, it was certainly going to be interesting.

The girl pulled off a number of acrobatic stunts that could put even acrobats to shame. Not to mention her cute little voice just keeps on starting to sound in the night along with scary gunshots of .50 caliber rounds being fired. There was something poetic about that.

Pipsqueak — yes, he'll be calling her that — was using the recoil of her weapon as another means to move about. It was something that he's never seen before.

Thankfully, Pipsqueak didn't get hurt and the mobsters were in a heap of pain and bruises. Good thing that the girl didn't really try to kill them. That would be a rude wake-up call so early in her career.

"You were worth every cent, truly you were…" The voice of one Roman Torchwick rang in the air, cane twirling on one hand. "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening and as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this…" He lifted his cane and pointed it to Pipsqueak. "… is where we part ways."

Good thing that the girl has good reflexes. Before the projectile could reach her, she pointed her weapon downwards and flew up with the recoil. The explosion happened between her and the ground and damn, was that one hell of a blast though.

Jaune continued to watch as the girl dropped back down. But his eyes weren't on her; it was on Torchwick as the thief started to climb up a building. Pipsqueak followed afterwards and so did Jaune.

He ran towards the building. Pumping aura to his legs, Jaune jumped and propelled him upwards to the rooftop. It was all a practiced motion for him as he had done this countless of times already.

Landing softly on the concrete rooftop of the building, Jaune quickly hid behind a wall and intent on watching the outcome. Well, he truly didn't expect Torchwick to suddenly have a bullhead hovering overhead…

"End of the line, Red!" Torchwick shouted and showed a red crystal to Pipsqueak, throwing it to her by her feet. But Pipsqueak didn't even do anything about it. Roman took aim at the red dust crystal.

Jaune was just about to pull out his weapons to save Pipsqueak but another blonde saved her. The bullet impacted the crystal and created an explosion that rattled the building. He was worried for the redhead for a moment until he saw her safe behind a purple glyph and a beautiful blonde woman.

Behind those thin ovular glasses were bright green eyes. Wearing a white long-sleeved pleated top and a black high waist pencil skirt with black boots and heels, she looked on at Torchwick with a calculating gaze before huffing and waved her riding crop.

Dozens of purple rays were seeking out the bullhead, determined to bring it down. Just when the bullhead was brought down to a lower altitude, Glynda summoned forth a thunderstorm with the usage of dust and brought down a hail of ice on the bullhead. But before the bullhead could be brought down, another person showed up in the bullhead — a person in red and heels.

Seriously, what is it with women and fighting with heels? It's almost like it's a requirement for them to use it in combat…

The hands of the woman in red glowed with a bright orange color before being formed as fire. She shot her hand forward and fire burst out from her palms.

Glynda formed an energy shield with her manipulation of Aura and protected her and Pipsqueak from becoming well-done. But the woman doesn't seem to be finished as she raised her hand and the ground beneath Glynda glowed.

With a flip, Glynda managed to avoid the explosion. Narrowing her eyes, she focused her semblance on the scattered debris and formed a spear. Thrusting it forward, the spear soared in the air to skewer the winged-beast.

A burst of fire shot out to the spear but the woman only managed to slow it down before flying fast again. The bullhead tilted slightly and the spear only grazed the bullhead. Glynda's trying to hold on to those rocks before they were all disintegrated by a massive burst of aura.

Pipsqueak was doing what she could be with her gun but it wasn't even doing anything. Just when the bullhead was finally leaving, the ground below them glowed again and Jaune only had an instant to react to it. With a burst of speed, he shot forward, grabbing the Pipsqueak by her hood and Glynda by her waist.

With his eyes trained on the bullhead and still deep in thought, he barely noticed someone calling for him, "—aune?" He turned his attention to the other blonde on the building still in his arms. Deep blue met forest green.

"Hey, Glynda. Nice to see you, too." He said, showing her his signature smile. The nervous one. Instead of replying, she purposely shifted her glance to his arm and stared back into his eyes meaningfully.

Chuckling nervously, he let her go. Glynda straightened out her outfit before discerning the damage done to public property. He sighed as he stood up but noticed the extra weight on his other arm. "Umm, can you put me down now?" A nervous Pipsqueak voiced her thoughts. From up close, she was a really cute girl with a petite and very light body. Even her voice was squeaky too! He could only just snort at his inner joke.

"Sure thing, Pipsqueak." Now, that seemed to get a reaction from her.

"Hey! I am not a pipsqueak! I am not that small and I'm still growing!" Aww, now ain't that cute. He was struggling not just cooing and glomping the girl right then and there.

"I think that is enough from the both of you. Now, do tell me what exactly happened here?" And then, the tension was quickly back.

 **—O—**

"It's been a long time, Jaune. Please have a seat." Glynda watched with steady eyes as Jaune Arc — the man who went missing a few years ago — sat in front of Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon and her boss, with a serious expression.

"Yeah, it has been… what? Two years?" He asked nonchalantly, but his body posture said otherwise.

"Two and a half, actually." The white-haired man with glasses leaned forward and placed his elbows on his desk. "How have you been?" This was one of Ozpin's ways of alleviating a tense atmosphere whenever there ever was one in his office.

"I'm fine and you don't need to worry about anything. I've been fine for the last two and a half years and I'm fine now." There was a certain edge in his voice — one that she was familiar with. It translated to 'I don't want to talk about it'.

"But certainly, there has to be some worry if we have you coming back to the grid." Ozpin said leaning back to his chair. "Did you know that you're family has reported you missing for the last few years?" Glynda knew about that one. She was the one who filed the report for the Arcs after all.

"Why don't we just cut the bullshit, Oz, and get down to business? I didn't come here to play catch up with you." Specifically, Ozpin. Apparently, she was an exception to that since he has been trying to talk to her for the past hour in the police station with Ms. Rose. Of course, she didn't give him the benefit of that.

The room was silent for a moment before Ozpin took a sip from his cup. "Then, let us get down to it." Adopting a serious expression compare to his previous one, Glynda had to suppress a flinch when Ozpin's eyes sharpened. Though, Jaune seemed unfazed with the sudden change in tone. "What brings you back to Vale, Mr. Arc?"

"A promise and a letter." Jaune said. "That's all I've come for here. I was planning on going here tomorrow but something happened on the way but you and Glynda showed up. So, why would I wait another night to get this thing done?"

The look on Ozpin's face didn't last long when he kept staring at Jaune's face. She knew it too. It was hard to keep being angry with such a person. But Ozpin's was a different matter — it was one of confusion.

"A promise and a letter? Did it say who it's for?" There was a slight gleam on his Ozpin's face, telling her that it was nothing more than a good-mannered gesture. "After all, you are a person who easily forgets such an important task such as this, Jaune."

Glynda let loose a small smile when Jaune rolled his eyes and reached down into his pocket. "A letter that is addressed to you and only you." He pulled out a slightly crumpled letter with dried red marks on one corner of the letter. "I haven't read that if you're going to ask. He told me that it's an important one regarding the Maidens."

At the mention of the Maidens, Glynda was sure that things would get serious from there. "Who gave this to you?" Ozpin asked without looking at Jaune but still eyed the letter.

"A friend… Someone who was willing enough to share some info on their whereabouts and their identifications. He… _worked_ for the other side before defecting…" Ozpin's and her eyes widened.

It was her time to interject. "You mean to tell us that the person who gave this letter has defected from Salem's faction!?" She might've voiced it a little louder but it was a very serious matter that even Ozpin would no doubt handle it personally. "Where is he now?"

Jaune held a smile — one filled with sadness and regret. She could only guess what happened. "He's no longer here with us…" It would only take an idiot to figure that one out. Nevertheless, Ozpin was unfazed by the news but continued.

"If he truly defected from Salem's faction, then we can say for certain that there might be some merit in believing that this letter has a little bit of truth in it." He said still eyeing the letter with a scrutinizing gaze. Opening it slowly, Ozpin reached down to touch the paper within and pulled it out.

After a tense minute of reading, Ozpin finally finished it with a breath that he seemed to be holding.

Glynda and Jaune spared the headmaster an expectant stare as Ozpin looked on at his former students. "Well, this certainly changes things."

"What does it say?" Jaune asked.

"Nothing that we already know but some of these things were certainly helpful details." Ozpin answered, putting down the letter on his desk. "The Spring Maiden is in Anima; while the Winter Maiden is in Solitas. The Summer Maiden is still in the process of being searched ever since Summer Rose was killed in action." There was a moment of silence in the room in respect for a deceased huntress — one of the best that they ever had. "Then, finally, the Fall Maiden — which currently resides here in Beacon."

"In which, the Fall Maiden coincides with the promise that I made with him." Jaune abruptly spoke, grabbing both of their attention. "The truth is the person who gave the letter and the promise I made was a relative to Amber."

Surprise and confusion was all that Glynda could read on Ozpin's face. "What do you mean, Jaune?" She asked for them both.

"The entire brotherhood was under the impression that Amber is the sole survivor of her family ever since the fire incident in Anima. That isn't exactly the case." He said, releasing a sigh and leaning back into his chair. "Amber is still young, like 19 to 21 young. Ever since my and Qrow's intervention on her attack, she's now on her way to recovery to full strength."

"Wait! You were there when Qrow saved Amber?" Glynda literally shouted out, but she didn't care. She was too shocked to care anyway.

"Yeah, I was. And if I hadn't been there, Amber would probably still be in a lot worse condition than she is in now." Running a hand through his golden locks, he started to rub his neck. "Anyway, after that, we parted ways even though Amber was still unconscious and James was on his way. It was there in Anima that I stumbled upon him — Amber's father." They were shocked once more. Amber's father was the person that gave them this letter.

Now, it was only like adding 2 and 2 to finally get the obvious answer. "Her father was helping them capture his own daughter?" The question made her stomach twist in disgust and terror. What kind of parent would do such a thing to their own daughter?

"No, he didn't even know who the Fall Maiden was until the one who tried to capture her returned empty handed. He didn't tell me who were in Salem's group but he did tell me that once he knew who the Fall Maiden really is, he defected. But not without incurring _her_ wrath. Amber's father received a fatal wound but managed to escape into Anima." Jaune huffed as if impressed. "The bastard had to track me down all the way into Mistral while injured, can you believe that?"

"One can do impossible feats if one is desperate enough." Ozpin said, recalling a few memories from his quote.

Jaune nodded in understanding, "Well, anyway, he found me and it was only a matter of few hours before he finally dies of poison from his wounds." Jaune grimaced. "It was something else — that wound. It was almost acidic and poisonous at the same time. Even the doctors couldn't do anything. Their tools kept on melting — the poison finally reaching its most dangerous effectiveness. He said that the wound was manageable at first until the poison gradually became potent enough to kill him."

Another moment of silence was unknowingly made by the only three people in the room. "What promise did you make with him, Jaune? If you don't mind me asking that is…"

"It's fine, Oz. It was only a matter of time before it was going to be told." A single brow was raised in surprise. Jaune looked him in the eye and said, "He told me to protect his daughter from Salem. To protect the Maidens from her. And that if she were to acquire their powers and collect the relics, then humanity is as good as dead."

A pin needle could've been heard being dropped if it weren't for the gears on top of them clicking every once in a while. The father of one of the Maidens made Jaune Arc promise to protect his daughter and the other Maidens so as not to make Salem succeed in her conquest to destroy all of humanity.

A promise from an Arc was always kept. And if Jaune would be here to protect Amber — the one who is the most vulnerable of the Maidens — Glynda would get to see him on a daily basis.

She doesn't have a — gods forbid — _crush_ on Jaune. It's just that her history with Jaune was a little complicated. She was older that him by at least 7 years — Jaune being 26 and her being 33. Glynda didn't have that many friends in her life and suitors? Lesser. But Jaune was one of the few that she can consider a true friend. There might be others; but Ozpin was her boss. Peter and Bart were her colleagues. Qrow was a fellow brotherhood member and a drunkard. And James, well, he was James.

Even if Jaune was previously her student for when she just started teaching when she was 24, their relationship was a rather odd one. It started off as a student-teacher one. After his graduation, they became good friends as they kept seeing each other often — Jaune being a recently added member of the brotherhood then.

And after all those years of being friends and constantly being together every once in a while, they became somewhat close friends. It's been a long time ever since they had a proper conversation.

"That brings me to another question… are you going to stay here in Beacon?" If Jaune was surprised by Ozpin's bluntness, he hid it well under a passive face. "While Amber is on her way to recovery, she still hasn't _fully_ recovered enough to regain consciousness. If you want to protect her, the best way for that to happen is to stay here in Beacon…"

There was a reason why Ozpin was asking this of him. Again, there was some story there — one too personal for Jaune to say. But that didn't mean that Glynda and Ozpin didn't know what happened.

"I… I don't know if I can, Oz. Th-there's too many reminders here of my team…" Jaune went to Beacon when he turned 17. Of course, that didn't mean he endured 4 years of lectures and combat classes alone. No, he has a team — _had_ a team.

It was supposed to be a simple escort mission in Atlas. They were supposed to escort a High Value Target — a faunus with a high position in the White Fang — to a maximum security prison. But they were ambushed along the way and that was when everything went wrong.

Dozens of other White Fang members with weapons of their own and another hunter-level member attacked their convoy and managed to kill the soldiers and a few huntsmen. His team suffered greatly with the loss of their two members — one of them being Jaune's lover. The leader — Jaune —ordered a full retreat of the forces guarding the convict but none of the soldiers followed.

So, they were forced into fighting a losing battle. When reinforcements arrived, it was to witness the genocide that occurred. Only a handful of soldiers and huntsmen were left alive with the HVT on the loose. Jaune and his other teammate had to live through hell with the memories of their dying teammates still fresh in their minds.

Jaune's teammate managed to move on from his tragic past while his team leader still couldn't grasp the fact that he had lost two teammates — two friends in the line of duty. Huntsmen were supposed to live with the idea that someday, they will die. But the grief was too much for Jaune to handle and that was why Jaune left and fell completely off the grid.

His parents and sisters were worried for their son and eldest sibling when the news of his sudden disappearance had reached them. His father understood greatly and just told his family not to worry about Jaune.

After 2 and a half years, he finally makes an appearance. A much different one that before. Even after his stay in Beacon, he was still using Crocea Mors — the Arc Family Heirloom. Before his disappearance, he gave back the heirloom to his father saying that it has served him well.

But now, he was using… something different. In the two pistol holsters attached to his thighs were two high-caliber desert eagles with opposing colors to each other — one was black; the other, white. And on his back was a single-edge four-foot bladed sword placed on a weapons rack. It looked heavy just from looking at it.

Finally after a tense minute, Jaune sighed. "If I agree to stay here in Beacon, what would I be doing?"

Ozpin let himself reveal a small smile, "Well, we can't have you just lying around all day in a room with nothing to do. So, I will have you work for me as a teacher."

The roller coaster of emotions doesn't seem to have any breaks at the moment for one Glynda Goodwitch.

 **—O—**

A teacher? Was that all that Ozpin could think of? It may actually be a good idea at first. But Jaune wasn't about to teach something ridiculous subject to some snobby, arrogant brats.

"I know what you're thinking, Jaune. But trust me when I say, it's not all that bad. Take Glynda for example." Both men looked at her and then back to each other. Somehow, he managed to pull off the most deadpan stare that he could muster. "Well, I'm sure you can teach something valuable for the students."

"The answer is no, Ozpin. I will not teach here and that's final." He stood up from his chair and smoothed out his clothes before turning to pick up his sword. The elevator doors opened a moment after pushing the button and retrieving his weapon.

Before he could get out, Ozpin called out. "Your sister applied here yesterday." Jaune didn't say anything. Instead, he chose to look over his shoulder and eyed Ozpin.

"Which one?"

"Joan Arc — the fourth child of Isabella and Jeremiah Arc. You're third younger sister. She gave us her transcripts and took on a few bots." Ozpin said with a neutral gaze.

"I take it she passed?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, we did. She was trained by her father and uses the weapon, Crocea Mors." Jaune didn't say anything else. Attaching his sword to his back, he pressed another button and the doors closed. With a sigh, Jaune walked back to the Ozpin's desk.

"Fine, then. Where do I sign?"

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 **A/N:** **There are probably a few Older and Professor Jaune stories out there and let me just say that this story was inspired by theirs. I was just so excited of the idea of an older Jaune in canon timeline with the many possibilities out there that I started to write one on my own. But I realized too late that the introduction of this chapter seems a little like the one that I used to read.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys liked and enjoyed it. BloodyCow, out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** **Hellooooo! BloodyCow, here! And I am back with another chapter. There are just a few things I want to clarify; there will be some OCs here but only to keep the story going. A perfect example of this would be Jaune's family. Since we still haven't seen Jaune's family in canon yet, so, I've taken the liberty of making OCs for the Arc Family. The entire family will be listed at the end of the chapter.**

 **Another example would be Jaune's previous team. The reason for that was to fill up a bit of a gap in Jaune's history to make it a little more believable. Though, I have something else planned for that. As I said in the first chapter, Jaune's team is supposed to be dead but one of them is still alive. That person isn't an OC. But that's all I have for you. I won't be a douche and spoil everything in this note.**

 **About Jaune's semblance, which is Aura Amplification, we haven't been told what exactly the limits of it are. While we were told the basic info of its usage, I'm trying to expand the possibilities of what Jaune's semblance can really do. So, I may have misled with the idea of his semblance being vague. Sorry about that.**

 **Anyway, here's the chapter.**

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 **Chapter 2**

Joan Arc — the third daughter of Isabella and Jeremiah Arc — was hunched over a garbage can after their transport landed on a Beacon landing pad. It was her first day in Beacon. It was supposed to be one of the best days ever! But it was already starting off bad. "Ugh, I should've taken the medicine… Stupid motion sickness…"

After throwing up the rest of her lunch, she wiped her mouth clean and popped a mint candy into her mouth. She finally had the chance to look at the academy that she was looking forward to attending. The very same one that her big brother attended before he disappeared.

Her mother said that when Jaune — her Big Bro — was 17; he wanted to be a huntsman. And while there was a certain gap between their ages which was actually almost a decade but that didn't stop her from trying to follow in his footsteps. Even to the point where she wanted to enroll into Beacon without training too.

But her father wouldn't have any of that. So, he trained her. Joan didn't attend any combat schools prior to Beacon. But her father's training should be more than enough for that, right?

Regardless of training or something of the like, Joan has come here for two different reasons. The first one is to follow in Jaune's footsteps into becoming a huntress. And the second one is to find the reason why Jaune left.

It's no big secret that Joan was the one that was affected the most amongst her family. There was a running gag at home that if Jaune was still 17, he could pass as Joan's twin. That was another reason why she was more attached to him than the others. She was more alike with Jaune than the rest of their sisters. They were both awkward and socially inept when making new friends.

Though, Amethyst — her eldest sister — had merely said that Joan's serious brother complex was the reasons why she was so attached to him. But it was not even remotely true — the brother complex part, she meant. The point still stands; Joan was the one closest to him.

But enough moping around! Finding out why Jaune left might be one of the reasons why she came here in the first place — but! Becoming a huntress was one of her lifelong dreams! She wasn't about to abandon it for her idiot brother. He was the first one that left.

Joan unconsciously puffed out her cheeks whenever she thought about her brother leaving. It was a sad memory; but she remembered that she was depressed and upset at the same time back then. He can go wherever he wanted — she won't give a damn.

She paused mid-walk. Did she really just think that? Did she just think of something bad about her brother?

"W-wow, th-that's weird…" She reached up behind her head and silently chuckled at herself. That was when she noticed a little girl in a red hood lying down on a… is that a crater? Had there been an explosion and she just… didn't notice it?

Walking over to her — _cautiously_ — she noticed the rather glum expression that the girl had. She heard her muttering something along the lines of 'welcome to Beacon' in a sarcastic tone.

Joan could empathize with the girl. She too had trouble making friends of her own when she was still little. Mustering enough courage, she walked closer to the girl.

"Hey!" She said rather enthusiastically with a smile and offered her a hand. "I'm Joan."

The silver-eyed girl stared at her with surprise written all over her face before reaching for Joan's hand. Finally, she gave a small smile of her own. "I'm Ruby." Joan pulled her up, surprised the small girl was a little heavier compared to hers. All of the sudden, the girl snickered. "Aren't you the girl that threw up on the ship?"

Well, at least, she made a friend…

 **—O—**

It was later that night that Jaune found himself sitting by the steps to the garden pavilion in Beacon. The new students arrived earlier after lunch. The teachers were supposed to be preparing for the initiation of the students tomorrow but Ozpin gave him a certain job to do — completely different from the ones that Peter and Bart were doing.

Speaking of Bart…

"I know you're out there. You don't need to hide yourself from me… we're teammates, remember?" He called out into the darkness. The rustling of the bushes farther down the path didn't alarm him. After all, that was where Bartholomew Oobleck was. "Hey, Bart. It's been a long time…"

"It has, Jaune. Three years is a long time indeed…" Bart stood by the pathway with a completely different outfit compared to when he was still in active duty. His look was just in mess — it wasn't properly tucked into his pants, his tie crooked and his hair was all over the place.

This wasn't the Bartholomew that he knew — this was Professor Oobleck of Beacon. "So, you became a professor here, huh?" He said, smiling a little bit when Bart suddenly sat next to him. Ah, he was still in one of those caffeine induced trance.

"Yes, I did — and it's 'Doctor' Oobleck now…" Widening his eyes in surprise, Jaune let out a chuckle. Bart really did become a doctor. Back when they were younger, Bart always was rambling about wanting to be a doctor but also wanting to be a huntsman. It got to the point where Jaune said something to shut him up.

 _'Why can't you just be both?'_ That was what he said. To his surprise, Bart really did ponder on it. He was quiet for a week trying to figure out what he said.

"I guess you _are_ following your dreams, huh?" He said, wistfully staring up into the sky. The shattered moon gave off a silver glow that illuminated the garden even just a little bit. He smiled while basking himself in the light of the moon.

"Yes, even if it was as little compare to what you had in mind back then." Bart said, doing the same thing that Jaune did. "Perhaps, it would be best to follow yours as well. It's merely a suggestion but having peace in the entire world will likely not see the light of day." Bart stayed quiet for another moment relishing in the contentment of the moment. "Jaune…"

"Hmm?"

"Do you miss them?" Jaune's serene expression faltered. "Leona and Iris? Do you miss them?"

Team JLIB or Jellybean as Ozpin had called it. They were the best at what they do — which was beating the crap out of everything. The headmaster called them the best in their year. They were unstoppable in combat and in real life. Bart was already a genius even at their age; Jaune was the prodigal son of a famous huntsman and huntress; Leona was the heiress of a company that rivaled that of the Schnee Dust Company; and Iris was also a genius but on a more mad scientist kind of way.

They had their misgivings when they first met up but it all gradually dissipated. Team JLIB grew comfortable with each other. By the time they were in their senior year, Jaune and Leona became lovers — much to their other teammates' chagrin.

But unfortunately, that mission went to shit and Jaune has to spend most of time grieving for them.

"Yeah, I do. There's nothing more in the world that I'd do just to have them back here, you know?" Jaune said.

"We both do…" Bart added. "I… regret everything for not doing something more for them." Great, now he was starting with the self-blame.

"You did what you had to do, Bart. Don't start blaming yourself for things that weren't even your fault to begin with. If anything, I'm supposed to be the one to blame…" Jaune put a finger up to silence Bart, knowing that he would deny him with what Jaune has to say. "Deny it all you want, Bart. But I'm just gonna say how everything was my fault from the start." Running through a hand on his already messy hair, Jaune leant back with his arms supporting his back. "Everything started with me accepting that mission in Atlas when we were supposed to be on vacation as a team. Then everything fell into chaos and there was nothing left I can do to stop it. Ordering that retreat was the most desperate act in my entire life… and not even that could save them. Now, all I need to do is find the bastard that killed them and to keep a promise." There was no way in hell that he was going to break another promise. Not anymore.

A hand landed on his shoulder as it was given a light squeeze. "Is that why you left the way you did? To find the person who made our lives as it is now?"

"It's what I spent two years outside of the walls for, Bart. Giving up isn't exactly in my bucket list." He said lightheartedly, dispelling the depressing atmosphere. He flashed Bart a confident grin. "Giving that redheaded bastard the beating that he deserves — one that he'll remember for a lifetime. Now, that's on the top of that list."

"I do not think that would be a wise decision, Jaune, but it is neither my choice whether you go through with it or not." Bart said, "As my students always say, _'your funeral'_."

"Aww, come on, Bart!" Jaune exclaimed, putting an arm around the doctor and brought him closer. "He's just one guy. And I can attest the fact that I've grown stronger than before if I was given the chance."

"Hmm… we will have dozens of moments where we can put that to the test." Bart said suddenly disappearing from Jaune's side. "But unfortunately, we still have initiation to worry about. I will see you tomorrow, Jaune." Before Jaune could say a thing, Doctor Oobleck disappeared in a green blur.

Jaune could only sigh and palm his forehead. Damn caffeine addict of a teammate…

 **—O—**

Joan left the ballroom a little earlier than necessary. The sun still hasn't risen but that was fine by her. It was usually at this time of the day that she'd wake up and start the day. Dad would always — _always_ make her train very early in the morning that it became a habit for her even on a rest day, and it was starting to get to her.

Before she even started training, she'd always wake up at around seven or eight in the morning to have breakfast with her sisters. But having taken up this new routine of waking up at four or five, her habits have become stranger than ever.

Though, there were some reprieves of having to start the day early. She always felt fresh from a warm-up jog in the morning. And well… that was what she started her day in Beacon. The fresh crisp air kissed her rosy complexion as she ran laps around the courtyard, making sure that she kept at a steady pace.

It wasn't until she kept her pace for 30 minutes before stopping altogether. With her hands on her knees and ragged breaths, Joan released a breath of relief before deciding to go on a little walk. There was still at least an hour or two left before everyone in the ballroom would wake up and another hour before initiation starts for them.

But with nothing left to do other than walking, she started to wonder about everything that has happened the day before. It wasn't like what her Big Bro had explained in detail what he experienced when he arrived in Beacon. He made his friend in Bart or Bartholomew Oobleck as she recalled and he met his team only after initiation.

Hers was a little different. Starting off with Ruby — who was a cute little thing — and her sister, Yang. They were _eccentric_ people to say the least; she knows eccentric when she sees one. Nobody can't not tell the difference when they're living with 9 other people at their home.

The two sisters were hard to deal with but they were certainly good people. They were kind and sweet to each other and even to her! Her — Awkward Joan in the family of nine people; said to be more awkward than Jaune Arc, himself. Anyway, they hung out, thought she was alright, and became friends with her.

And things were starting to look up until that banshee of a Schnee appeared.

Look, she wasn't a short-tempered person nor was she easily agitated. In fact, she was a patient one. But, damn, does the Schnee get on her nerves. How can a girl so small make her voice so loud?! "Ugh, damn, Ban-Schnees!"

"You know, if you were to curse someone, you have to make sure that there's no one around to hear it…" Startled, she quickly spun on her heels as she heard the voice from behind her. Actually, it didn't even startle her. She only moved so fast just so she could glomp the person that spoke. After all, there was no mistaking that voice.

"Jaune!" Joan shouted, jumping and wrapping her arms around her tall brother's neck. "You're real! You're here! I can't believe it! I can't actually believe you're here! Why are you here though?! Are you here for a mission?!" She gasped. "Are you here to see me?! What happened?! Why did you disappear on us?! Why didn't you call?!" Another set of questions flowed out of Joan's mouth.

Still wrapping her arms and legs around Jaune, she didn't know when she started crying. Tears were flowing down her cheeks as she held on to him tighter. It was something that Jaune noticed but didn't speak.

"Why'd you have to leave?" Joan whispered into her brother's ear. She felt his hand rub against her back, gently. His other hand was supporting her weight from below. It was like she was being carried like a baby. Though, she didn't mind. It was a sort of affection that was all for her at the moment.

"Aww, did my baby sis miss me so much that she'd follow after her brother?"

"Idiot Big Bro…" Joan muttered. "You just left all of the sudden… I — _we_ didn't know what to do, but file that report of you going missing. Mom was distraught of what you did. Dad was alright with it, considering what happened to you. He keeps saying that it's a phase that all people go through when experiencing loss if we asked. He even said that he'll welcome you back when you're ready. The others… weren't so forgiving when you go back home."

"Yeah, I guess I'll go prepare myself for that." She knew what her brother meant. He _will_ come back home. Well, now, at least that was something off of her things-to-do. She finally found him! There were a dozens of things she wanted to talk to him about. About dad's training with her, her oldest sister finally opening up a restaurant and the twins finally stopping their pranks on her! But before that…

"Ugh!" She instantly released her hold on her brother and delivered an aura-enhanced-punch into his gut. Jaune was sent curling down on the ground. "Ow, that was some punch you got there, sis…"

"Huh, I've always wanted to do that ever since you left." She said, before wincing in pain and shaking her hands. It was like she hit a freaking wall.

"You know, it's not nice to hit your brother." Jaune said, showing a confident smile. "You should realize that a simple aura-punch can't really do any lasting damage on me, right?"

"Yeah, I forgot that you were such an aura monster, too. Even dad says that you have too much compared to a dozen of people combined." Jaune merely laughed it off. "But seriously, what are you doing here? You never did call back home or sent a postcard."

"I guess I've been out of reach for a while now. I've a lot to of catching up to do when I get back home." He said, putting a hand on his little sister's head and began rubbing it affectionately. "But it's really nice to see you again, lil sis. I can't say that I expected you here; even less of seeing you attending here."

"You don't think I know what you're doing?" Joan raised a single brow at him. "Stop dodging the question and just answer it just like what any good brother would do."

"I can't get past anything with what you have to say, huh?" Jaune unconsciously reached up behind his own head and rubbed it. It was such a Jaune-move that she adopted as well. She noticed him pause for a moment before smiling brightly. "Well, you'll figure it out in a moment."

"What do you mea — !?"

"Jaune, what are you doing here?" Joan froze when she heard that new arrival's voice. "I thought for sure that you would still be sleeping at this time…"

Showing his confident grin once more, Jaune turned around to face the speaker. "That's actually my fault, Glynda. I got a bit sidetracked last night and slept in the garden."

Glynda Goodwitch — the headmistress and disciplinarian of Beacon Academy — was standing just behind her big brother with a more relaxed composure, something that she didn't expect from the stern teacher. "Again? You've already done that a few times when you were still a student."

"I guess I've made it into a habit." Jaune said. "I've actually ran into Bart around last night."

"Hmm, I guess you had a lot in your mind last night…" Glynda said, reaching up to place a hand on his shoulder — something that shocked Joan the most. "I can let this one slide for now. You're already a part in Beacon. It wouldn't do if a teacher suddenly sleeps out in the gardens. You'd set yourself as a role model that students shouldn't follow." Well, that was something that took the cake. Something that was more shocking than Glynda's sudden tenderness.

"A teacher…?" Joan's face was set on a very shocked expression. Jaune laughed at his sister's face.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to introduce you. Glynda, this is my sister, Joan." Glynda merely looked at her with those stern eyes of hers — almost as if studying her. It brought a shiver down her spine. Those warm eyes that she saw earlier was something only reserved for Jaune. Something was going on between them, is there? "Joan, this is Glynda, my colleague. Though, from your perspective; your very very strict teacher."

"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Arc." Glynda said, but more of a formality.

"N-ni-nice to meet y-you, P-professor Goodwitch…" Oh, great. Now, she was stuttering and her brother had the gall to laugh at his little sister's expense. Sending an annoyed glare at her new teache — _brother_ , it was going to be a cold day in hell for her to call him a teacher, she quickly recovered. "U-um, I have to go. W-we still have some initiation to do…" At least, she was someone who still has some form of coherency when panicking. Damn Jaune and that girlfriend of his…

* * *

 **A/N: Wow, there's a lot of things that I wanted to add here but deciding to end it with Joan's perspective was a good one. It was a short one, but I'll be making longer ones in the later chapters. Still trying to get a grip on what to do with the characters.** **So, a lot of revelations going on here. Like Jaune's teammate, Jaune's sister - Joan, Team JLIB or Jellybean, why Jaune left... a lot of revelations that just got dropped.**

 **Speaking of Joan... how'd you guys like her? I basically made her into a genderbend Jaune in some way but more girly and as mentioned in the chapter** **— a BroCon. Listen, if any of you guys don't know what BroCon means, you should probably google it right now.**

 **(Edited:) I almost forgot about this one sorry:**

 **The Arc Family:**

 **Jeremiah Arc - 47**

 **Isabella Arc - 45**

 **Jaune - 26**

 **Amethyst - 21**

 **Robyn - 19**

 **Joan - 17**

 **Pearl - 16**

 **Daisy - 15**

 **Lily - 15**

 **Jade - 14**

 **One more fact: the OCs I placed in this chapter; namely, Leona and Iris are my OCs in my other story. And one last tidbit, I've made Jaune enter Beacon the same way he entered in canon. So that's something. I'll probably make sure that RWBY and/or JNPR stays in the next chapter — but no promises.**

 **Anyway, I hoped you guys enjoyed and liked it. Leave a review if you think there's something that I can improve on or change for whatever the hell the reason is. Haha, BloodyCow, out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hellooooo, BloodyCow here! And I am back with another chapter. I've been having a bit of trouble writing this part of the story. I mean, we've watched the entire series two or more times right about now and writing it the same way as what happened in canon is like a bane in my writing. Though there is a reason for that.**

 **Joan - being an OC and everything - is basically a genderbend Jaune. She has the same personality (I think) and socially awkward tendencies (I think). She wields Crocea Mors too. Only difference between this Joan and Canon Jaune are: 1) She has training and 2) She's a girl. These two differences can change the entire story altogether.**

 **Now before I say anything else, I just want to point out the fact that Joan only had training after Jaune mysteriously disappeared two years ago before the start of the story. That means in regards of combat proficiency, Joan's a bit more experienced than Canon Jaune when he first started in Beacon but she's a bit behind compared to her peers, i.e. Team RWBY, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora - you get my point.**

 **But enough of my rambling. Now, on with the story.**

* * *

 **I forgot to put this on the previous chapters.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own RWBY or anything that may pertain to other series.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Glynda could only stare in confusion at the retreating back of Jaune's sister. She turned to look at Jaune's face for any answers but all she got was a gentle smile and a shrug of his shoulders. Shaking her heads of any previous thoughts, she faced Jaune. "Is there anything wrong?" She asked.

She really didn't expect Jaune to answer. Since, it was like she broke a tender moment between siblings. However, she didn't expect him to laugh. "It's nothing, Glynda. Joan is just an awkward girl and easily intimidated by those with presence like yours."

"I believe that is something that I cannot fully agree to." She said. "Maintaining this air of professionalism is something that must be done by all if they ever want to complete their tasks." It was quite unthinkable for her to even lose this type of persona for the sake of casualness. Though, there were some circumstances that she had the ability to easily switch to one of similar personality. Like, keeping a friendly image to better suit gatherings or to make herself _presentable_ in front of Ja —

Her line of thought was broken when a hand was waving in front of her. "—ynda? You okay? You spaced out for a little while there." His immediate concern for her surprised her a little since it was usually the other way around at most times.

"I'm alright. What were you talking about?" She asked as if there was nothing wrong. She kept on a straight face when she asked, which didn't go unnoticed by Jaune…

"Are you sure?" He asked, with a worried expression. "You've stayed up too late when you were watching over those kids in there, right? Maybe you should take a rest."

She gave an uncharacteristic snort. "Need I remind you that I was also the one that watched over you and your peers during my first day as a teacher?" Raising one eyebrow for good measure.

At least, Jaune had the decency to look sheepish in front of her. "Ah, you're right about that one." But he still turned back to his serious look. "Anyway, I still think that you should take a rest. You've already done far more than any of us in staff, well, despite it being my first day. At least, let me help you with your workload. If there was no Ozpin, I think you'd be the first choice to replace him — I mean you technically run Beacon by yourself. I'll handle monitoring the students today at the cliff."

Glynda hesitantly nodded while giving out a soft giggle — one so out of character that she wanted to hightail it out of there and hide from him. But making her react like this seems all too natural for Jaune to do that she didn't even want to do it. She was really glad to be working with him again.

"The only way for Ozpin to give up his position is through bribery with coffee." She said, making Jaune laugh. Something that resounded within her and one that she forcefully ignored.

"Or through dozens of fairy tales. Those are some things that he would try to figure out given the chance." The two of them shared a laugh, considering that they've been finding out ways to make Ozpin sweat. What they came up with would certainly make that happen. "But, still… I don't know if I can actually make this job work for me. I don't think I can make arrogant brats like these ones listen to me."

That statement made her look at him with a straight face. "You have 7 younger sisters that look at you as their hero and role model more than your parents could — I am sure that you will do just fine with these students."

"Yeah, well, the thing is I had years of practice for that to happen." Jaune shrugged. "After mom had Robyn, I knew that she couldn't handle raising me with my two other sisters. So, I had to help. Helping raise my sisters was practically an obligation for me."

"I see. Then, it is safe to assume that you will have no troubles whatsoever in your first day?" The smirk that she gave him wasn't something that she gives just to anyone. Well, Jaune was the closest person that she had equivalent to a best friend.

"Alright, if you word it like that, then it'll look like I'm more than qualified for the job. I'll probably have a few mishaps but I'm proud to say that at least I won't be boring the students out of their minds with one of Port's stories." He said. "But I do have an important task to do other than trying to teach these kids, right?"

Glynda gave a solemn nod upon hearing his words. That put a lot of thought into the matter. Jaune was only here due to some promise that he made probably days ago. If he hadn't stumble upon the Fall maiden's father, then surely Jaune wouldn't be in Beacon now…

"But I'm here anyway…" He suddenly said, breaking Glynda out of her reverie. "I might as well make the most out of it, right?" Well, at least, Jaune knows what to say to make her feel in high spirits.

"Well, I'll be…" A deep sounding voice echoed behind them. One that was so familiar that both of them rolled their eyes at the next action that the person would do. "If it isn't Jaune Arc!" Peter Port — the professor for Grimm Studies — shout, well, more like bellowed, as he walked up to the two and gave Jaune a literal bear hug.

"I-it's n-ni-nice to s-see y-you too, Prof!" He managed to squeeze out of his mouth. It wasn't easy trying to make words when your lung capacity is _very_ limited. And that is almost guaranteed when Peter does that.

"My boy! I haven't seen you ever since you graduated while killing a Deathstalker with your bare hands!" Jaune sweatdropped when he was finally released from Peter's grasp.

"Uh, I don't think I remember myself doing that. Seems a bit exaggerated…" That made Peter jovially laughed at his words, bringing an arm around his shoulders and his other around Glynda's. Despite Peter's fearfulness towards Glynda, she was still his student during her student years.

"The both of you were excellent students that could take on hordes of Grimm without ever needing back-up — just like when I was at that age!" He huffed out. "Basking in the black blood of Grimm, weapon in hand and sheer might and will against the hordes of Grimm! Now, that is something that's worth telling to the children!"

Glynda inwardly groaned. She doesn't have anything against the rotund man. In fact, she knows that Peter wasn't all talk. He was a professional huntsman after all. Even if some of his stories were full of boasts and arrogance that matches those of her students. Speaking of students…

"While I would want nothing more than to listen to your stories, Professor Port." Oh, that was definitely a lie but the man wouldn't even notice it. "There are still some students that need to be watched over before initiation starts." She brought back her stern glare and directed it towards Peter — who flinched back and retreated his arms from around her shoulders. Glynda looked back at Jaune but with a more relaxed expression. "I'll see you later, Jaune. Gentlemen, have a good day."

She heard a whistle sound from behind her and caught the words that flew out of Peter's mouth. "Lad, you certainly do know what to pick whenever it comes to women." She then heard him give out a hearty laugh. "Dear Glynda hasn't even called Bart and I by our names!"

Glynda wasn't giving off the wrong impression by doing that here, was she? After all, giving the cold shoulder to Peter while being that nice to Jaune was certainly out of the norm for her, Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon…

 **—O—**

His father always says that confidence was all he needed in everything. Well, considering that his father was a badass huntsman and family man, he was more than likely to believe him than most people that would give him advice.

 _'But how come he never gives me advice on how to do my tie?'_ That was one of the greatest mysteries that he hasn't solved in his life. There he was, going to the Beacon cliffs with an article of clothing that can literally choke him to death. Seriously, who had the brightest idea to make this stuff?

He had forgone his black coat and white shirt for the standard uniform for the teachers in Beacon, one that was similar to the student's uniform but instead of black, he wore a burgundy suit and yellow tie — though he still wore his black jeans and combat boots.

"Ah, Jaune. To what do I owe the pleasure for your arrival here?" Ozpin — that goddamn slave-driver — said. "And may I ask where Glynda is? She isn't one to be late for something so important…" Ozpin was overlooking the Emerald Forest from the cliffs with a mug on one hand and a scroll in the other.

Jaune sighed, already regretting this decision. "Actually, I subbed in with her for this one. Gods know that she already has her hands full with whatever stuff you guys make her do." He wasn't kidding when he said that Glynda was basically the one running Beacon. With classes on one hand and paperwork on the other, he was just surprised that Glynda hasn't collapsed, quit or killed Ozpin yet… not that she could though, but people will get it.

Ozpin chuckle with a shake of his head. "I assure you, Jaune. I don't put Glynda into too much stress. She's already overworked as it is. But since you will be substituting for her today, I suppose that you already know what it is we will be doing…"

"Oh, yeah and I'm looking forward to it." Jaune's lips curled up into something akin to an evil grin. "Can I be the one to push the button?"

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt." Ozpin gave him the scroll that contained the program for the launch pads.

Jaune whistled. "Man, this looks like something that I don't even want to touch. Where's the launch button on this thing?" He muttered. Jaune expected a big red button with the word launched written in it but Ozpin pointed out that the green square button was the one.

The sounds of footsteps didn't deter them from their current thoughts, but it signaled that the students have arrived. It's about time they showed up.

Looking up from the scroll, Jaune studied every face that showed up there and he recognized a few. Joan had the same bright smile that she had when she first saw him and she was probably excited to finally get into Beacon. He should know too — he was in the same position as she was in the past.

There was the invincible girl. Only an idiot would not know who Pyrrha Nikos was. She was quite a beauty too despite being younger than him.

And then, there was Pipsqueak — wait, Pipsqueak?! "Hey, Ozpin?" Jaune half-whispered and half-shouted at his boss. "Why's Pipsqueak over there?!" He couldn't forget that face. Who wouldn't when something that cute happens to magically appear? Besides, there were only a handful of people that he knew that wore a red cape/hood. One being a crow-transforming drunkard and well, maybe only that one, but still…

"You mean Miss Rose?" Jaune fervently nodded. "Ah, well, I understand your reason for being concerned. Miss Rose is two years younger than her peers and she will definitely be behind in the study material. But she has talent that when nurtured in Beacon; she can fully grow more than in a combat preparatory class."

"Well, I know she's skilled — I've witnessed it — and that you mean well. But moving her up two years? That's not even being called irresponsible. That's outright insanity!" Jaune half-shouted/whispered into Ozpin with their backs turned to the students.

"So, you are saying that you have no faith in the ability of Miss Rose?" With a shake of his head and a sip of his coffee, he turned to Jaune. "I can assure you that whatever challenges that Miss Rose may face today will be something that she will inevitably face in the near future. We're just moving things forward just a little bit."

Jaune just sighed with his arms raised in a universal gesture of giving up. "Just so you know, if anything happens to her, I'll tell her parents that you're the reason she got hurt." He tried to make Ozpin at least a teeny bit uncomfortable but sadly, all he got was a smug grin behind that mug of coffee and turning around to face the students. That smug son of a —

"For years, you have trained to become one of the best warriors you have ever been. Today, you will be tested for your abilities in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin finished as he looked expectantly at Jaune. With the roll of his eyes, he consented with a nod. "Everyone, this is Jaune Arc. He will be also one of the evaluators in today's test. Professor Arc…"

Well, that was one way to be put on the spot. And the look on Pipsqueak's face was priceless! "Good morning to each and every one of you. As the headmaster said, I am Jaune Arc — your soon-to-be teacher in Beacon — _if_ you manage to pass this test." Wow, he didn't know where he got the sass but he sure wasn't going to give it up now! "Today, we will be assigning you teammates — ones that you will be with for the rest of your stay here in Beacon."

"So, it is in your best interest to be paired up with the ones that you can work well with." Jaune saw a glint in Ozpin's eyes — something that he was sure would be a _very_ bad idea. "That being said the first person you make eye contact with after you landed will be your partner for the next four years."

"What?!" Jaune heard Pipsqueak whine out in dismay. He was amused at the cute and innocent display — something that he had only witnessed in his little sisters — all seven of them.

"After you have partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. There will be obstacles blocking your path to your objective. Do not hesitate to do what is necessary against what you encounter in the forest or you _will_ die…" A lot of them had cold sweat running down their foreheads and especially Joan who was nervously rubbing the backside of her head. "You will all be monitor and graded for the duration of your initiation — but be advised that we will not intervene of any immediate danger that might occur. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path with several relics."

Jaune rolled his eyes when Ozpin continued his explanation. It was the same one that he used when he first applied to Beacon. During Ozpin's explanation, Jaune took the time to look at the different faces in front of him. He has to say, it was quite an assortment.

At the end of the line was a bubbly orange-haired girl. Next to her was a quiet-looking boy clad in a green Mistralian robe. They seem to be good friends. He had a feeling that those two will be partnered up regardless of where they would land — it was just a suspicion but he was feeling it would definitely happen.

There were dozens more but some were just some faces that were too… normal to remember. The thing about huntsmen and huntresses was that no matter where they were, they were supposed to be unforgettable — that they were supposed to be someone that would be instantly pegged by the masses as huntsmen and huntresses.

They would pass, if they were strong enough. But they would definitely need to up their game if they ever want to be effective in their job.

"Now, are there any questions?" Ozpin asked to the students, breaking Jaune out of his thoughts. When no one will raise their voices or hands, they would start immediately. Unfortunately, one did both.

"Yes, um, sir?" Joan raised her hands in confusion, as she addressed Ozpin.

"Good! Now, take your positions." Oh, he was going to play it like that? Jaune remembered the exact same thing that happened to him with Ozpin. He might as well play along.

"Um, sir, I've gotta question?" Jaune wisely closed his eyes and avoided eye contact. He wasn't gonna go there. That path lies to dog eyes and a pout if he ever made eye contact with his sister. Jaune could feel it now — the ire and the heated glare that she sent his way. The first student was launched into the air. "So, this landing strategy… you're like dropping as off or something?"

"No, you will be falling." Jaune pressed the button again and another student was launched.

"Oh, I see… so, did you hand out parachutes for us?" Another press, another student launched.

"No, you will be using your own landing strategy." Almost everyone was already in the air except for his little sister. Deciding to hold it up for just a moment, Jaune focused on Joan.

"So, uh, what exactly is a landing strategy?" She asked whilst tilting her head.

"Joan…" He said, catching her attention. "You can take it easy and just be calm — just relax and you'll be fine. Take it as advice from a teacher and as a brother."

"Oh! You got it, Bro!" She gave Jaune a two-finger salute while smiling brightly. "Anyway, what is a landing strate — gaaah!" Joan was launched into the air like a rock thrown from a catapult. Two pairs of eyes watched with vague fascination of the devices they have.

"Hmm, I've always wanted to do that…" Jaune abruptly said.

"Shooting the students off a cliff or doing that to one of your sisters?" Ozpin asked, curiosity lacing his voice.

"Maybe a bit of both…" Shrugging his shoulders, he turned to Ozpin. "So, what now?"

With a sip of his coffee, Ozpin turned to look out into the forest — again. What is up with him being all moody? "For now, Mr. Arc, we watch our students grow."

 **—O—**

Damn that idiotic brother of hers! Not only did he just throw her off a cliff — he did so with that smug look on his face! If — _when_ she passes this test, she was going to sock him so hard that he'll wish he had never done that. But into important matters, how the hell was she going to land?!

Flailing arms and legs, Joan had done the best she could to keep herself balance. But as plain as the eyes could see — that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. She deployed Crocea Mors' shield function and placed it in front of her — the sword still buried in the sheathe.

Her mother only gave one advice if she were to fall from such a high altitude. _'Place your shield in front of you and hope for the best. Your aura will absorb most of the damage from the impact. Yeah, thanks for the advice, mom.'_ After a second or two, her vision was suddenly filled with the greens of the high trees in Emerald Forest, making her shudder for a moment. Gods, this was going to be painful.

As if answered by the deities, everything went by in a blur — but in a different way. She was yanked from the air and pinned to a tall tree. "Ow…" The sudden shift in trajectory was a bit confusing on Joan's brain that it had to be rebooted after a moment. The force of the sudden impact was absorbed by her aura, as it flashed for a brief moment before fading out.

Joan looked up to see the one that had saved her from an inevitable death by falling — a red spear with bronze and gold trimmings. It wasn't her savior but she supposed there will be one person who owns that javelin, right?

She pulled the spear from the tree and righted herself just in time before she could hit the forest floor. Huh, the spear looked a little familiar. Did it belong to someone that she knew? If so, then there would only be a handful of them.

There was Ruby, there was Yang, and then, there was… "Pyrrha?" The redheaded girl that she met in the locker rooms stood before her with a smile on her face. Pyrrha Nikos — or as Ice Queen has condescendingly told her — was a four-time champion of some tournament running in Mistral and the top of her class in Sanctum Academy. That sounds incredibly amazing and she was such a nice girl too.

"Hello, again." Pyrrha waved. "It's good to see that you are alright. I assumed that you were having trouble with your landing strategy."

"Hehe, it's all good here, Pyrrha. I take it that this is yours?" Joan said, holding up her javelin. "Thanks for the save back there. I would've been mush if it wasn't for you…"

"Oh, think nothing of it. I'm sure you would have done the same if somebody was in trouble. I just have a habit of helping someone in need." Huh, who would've known? Pyrrha and her Big Bro has a lot in common. Only difference now, Pyrrha was already a badass fighter in her first year and Jaune only became one when he entered Beacon. "So, we made eye contact…"

"Yeah, we did, didn't we?" After a terse moment… "So, partners?" Pyrrha smiled again.

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, that just happened. I was just thinking that not writing the entire initiation would be a good idea since we all know what's about to go down in there. Let me know if you guys want to have the whole of initiation written.**

 **BloodyCow, out!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hellooooo! BloodyCow, here! And I am back with another chapter. I've had a little difficulty on this one since it's hard trying to come up with ways to make the characters link to each other and how they interact with one another with trying to force it out of them as if there was no development whatsoever.**

 **I think I did okay with this chapter. I just hope it's not too bad. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 _"Jaune!" He heard the shout of his partner, a little away from the battleground — or a graveyard; it doesn't make any difference. Quickly finishing off another White Fang goon, he trudged down the snowy path with little difficulty._

 _The dead white trees of the forest have all caught on fire, basking the surroundings in an orange glow. The sounds of gunshots haven't stopped since they were attacked and it doesn't look like it's gonna stop real soon. Atlesian soldiers lay lifeless on the ground with cold dead eyes. The mission was to escort a High Value Target to an isolated maximum security prison in Atlas. But he doesn't care about any of that._

 _"Leona! Iris! Bart!" He shouted, frantically looking for any signs of them. As he begun to run in the direction of Leona's voice, the clash of metal started to ring louder and louder. Jaune reached a small clearing and arrived just in time to see his teammates fighting to a standstill. But what bothered him wasn't that they were covered in cuts and bruises. No — it was that his teammates were going against only two of them when there were three of them._

 _He rushed towards his teammates when he saw the red haired faunus sprint towards his friends. Bringing up the shield function of Crocea Mors, he blocked the red steel of his sword. Jaune flared his aura outward and emitted a force that made the swordsman stumble back a few meters away._

 _"Are you three alright?" He asked, still eyeing their two opponents._

 _Leona — Jaune's partner and lover — stood to his side with an intricately designed sword and large kite shield. "We'll be fine. How about you?" Bart stood with his thermos at the ready — he was just as bloodied and beat up like the rest of them._

 _"I'll live. The convoy's being attacked. Bart and I can handle this — I need you and Iris to stay with the convoy and drive off the attack but if it's too much for the both of you… I'll order a full retreat." His orders were not well received by his teammates._

 _"That's a load of bull!" Iris — a short blue haired fox faunus girl with gauntlets twice her size — exclaimed. "You and Bart can't take them on by yourselves. We need to work as a team and make sure that they're done for before we get to the convoy."_

 _"There's no time, Iris. If the HVT escapes then this mission is as good as gone. Bart and I are only gonna delay them while you two secure the perimeter around the convoy." Jaune said, making Iris growl in frustration. "I can handle this. You and Leona can go on ahead."_

 _Iris made sure to make her frustrations clear by clicking her tongue. "If you die, Jaune, I won't be making that eulogy at your funeral." She ran out of sight, probably towards the convoy. The Atlesian soldiers need support to drive of the Fang — Iris and Leona would be enough for that. He hopes._

 _"Jaune…" Leona uttered his name with the same soft look on her face as she stared at his eyes. "Promise me, that you won't die?" Even in a battlefield, she could certainly find ways to make him feel wanted._

 _"I promise that we will all come back home."_

 **—O—**

Jaune woke up. Not with a start or anything like that — he woke up normally like what any normal person would do. Eyes opened with an eerie calm that he could never explain. There was no sweat that could indicate that he ever had a nightmare.

Nightmares were a recurring theme for the past few years. It hasn't left him nor has he forgotten.

Running a hand through his hair, he checked his nightstand to see what time it was. Ten minutes past 12. Groaning, he got up from his bed and swung his legs to the side. "I need a strong drink." And by the gods did that make him sound like Qrow. With a huff, he dressed himself with a simple black shirt and black coat with red interior linings. He wore his black jeans to bed and only needed to wear his black combat boots and his fingerless gloves.

Opting to carry only his high-caliber pistols — Ebony and Ivory, he left Rebellion, his sword, leaning on the wall. Putting the guns in his thigh holsters, he left the room before locking it. Jaune scanned the hallway — for any sign of his colleagues or any students.

But since it was in the middle of the night, he doubted there was one awake at this time. If he needed a drink, there was only one place that he could get it from — and no, it wasn't gonna be in Beacon. Since he was going there, he might as well gather some info on what's happening in Vale.

This wouldn't be the first time that he had snuck away from Beacon. Though, this will be the first time that he snuck out for the purpose of drinking and he was the teacher, no less. After going through the countless corridors of Beacon, the courtyard and a gracious tip for a bullhead pilot, he was on his way to a club that was quite well-known in Vale, despite being on the shadier parts of the city.

He knew that the owner was also dealing in many suspicious activities in Vale. After all, he was a crime boss. But that didn't deter the people from becoming regulars of the popular nightclub. Despite dealing in the underground business, the owner was still quite an influential person in society — making him a person of two worlds.

The sounds of upbeat music could be heard a mile away when he arrived at the other side of Vale. There weren't much people awake at the moment but it could be that the buildings have long been abandoned.

"Well, haven't been here in a long time…" Jaune muttered, observing the entire building. "I wonder if Junior is still making those cocktails…"

With a spring in his step, Jaune approached the entrance of the club only to be blocked by the bouncer. Raising a gold brow, the bouncer pointed to the back of the line. "You have to wait just like everybody else, sir. Club's fully booked at the moment." He said.

But the man was taken aback when Jaune merely laughed at him. "Thankfully, I'm not like those chumps." Reaching into his pocket, Jaune showed a cheeky grin while flaunting a black and gold card.

The eyes of the bouncer's widened like saucers and proceeded to sweat profusely. "U-uh, um, I'm sorry, s-sir. I didn't know that you had this…" If it was any other person, they would've started telling the man off for being rude. But, this was Jaune.

Laughing lightheartedly, Jaune patted the man's back. "It's okay, pal. Just try to ask your customers next time. Okay?" The bouncer nervously nodded and Jaune walked in. He didn't blame the man. After all, he was just doing his job.

The music blared as soon as he entered the building. Flashing lights and people partying were a common sight in every club but limping and bruised bodyguards were not. Several glass pillars, which were made mainly for architectural designs, were cracked in several places — almost as if it would break down and fall to pieces at any moment.

"I wonder what happened here…" But despite all that, the patrons were drinking and having the time of their lives. If that was the case, he might as well have something to drink. Making his way to the bar, an array of bottles with different labels was displayed at the back — some were his favorites.

"So, what'll you have tonight?" A bartender — a mere random face of Junior's goons — asked.

"I'll just have some whiskey." The man nodded and poured some into a short glass with a ball of ice. Sliding the glass to him, Jaune caught it and downed the drink in one go. Gesturing to his glass, the bartender poured him another shot.

Jaune saw the miniscule amount that he put into the glass and he sighed. He was going to be here longer than he anticipated.

 **—O—**

"I can't let you, Roman." The gruff voice of a seven-foot tall man grunted, as he leant back on his leather couch. "You've already got some of my men into trouble last time and now, the police are focusing their sights on me. Everybody in town knows that when you see people in black suits and red ties, they'll know who those people are with."

"Oh, come on, Junior!" A man in a bowl hat and white coat exclaimed. "I promise to keep them off of the public eye and only make them do the hard part. Carrying a bunch of shit should be an easier job for them than trying to rob a dust store, right?" Roman said, drinking from his glass of alcohol. "Besides, I've already paid in full with the services of your men last time."

Junior grunted but kept a stern glare at the thief. "That may be what happened. But let's not forget that you're also the one responsible for their arrest. Hell, I had to use the money you gave me to bail them out!" He said, pointing a finger at Roman.

Roman didn't even look nervous but merely laughed and shook his head. "For the record, everything would've been fine if that little red riding hood hadn't interrupted us."

"That still doesn't change the fact that you messed up and got my men in trouble." Junior pulled out a cigar from a case placed on the table. "If that's everything that you have for tonight, I suggest that you enjoy your club privileges for now. You can look for more help in other places."

Roman could only sigh back in response. He was stumped right here. While there was the group of White Fang members that he could use to help him with his late night _adventures_ , Roman wasn't sure if his employer would be too happy about that. The White Fang would only be used for the later parts of this _master_ plan of hers that she's so proud of.

For now, what he has now will have to do. He even heard that there was a shipment of dust coming from Atlas next month. If he told her that and give a believable reason, that should keep her off his back for a while. Junior's men weren't doing much anyway.

"Alright, then. I guess I will. I could use a drink." Standing up from the couch, he picked up his cane. "A pleasure doing business with you, Junior." With a tip of his hat, Roman turned to the other person in the room — who was sitting at the desk with a bowl of assorted ice cream on her hand. "Neo, let's go."

A small statured girl with pink and brown hair pouted cutely while staring at Roman with her brown and pink eyes. She gestured with a spoon towards the bowl of ice cream that she had on her hand.

Seeing this, Roman sighed. "No, Neo. We can't let you have another bowl of ice cream. Our business is done here."

"…"

"What do you mean 'you don't care'?" He asked.

"…"

"Alright, fine. You can have as much ice cream that you want when we get to the bar. Happy?" Neo nodded brilliantly, hopping off the desk before devouring what was left in the bowl. After mock bowing towards Junior, Neo followed after Roman with a skip in her step.

"Damn, brats." He leant back to his sofa, staring idly at the velvet ceiling. He wondered what the master thief would've wanted with all the dust he's been stealing since two weeks ago. He certainly made it known to the public that he was responsible for all the thefts that occurred in the city.

But his reasons were still pretty vague. Maybe he wanted to cripple Vale with the supply and demand for dust — make the society buy more expensive dust. While that was a smart idea on his part that still doesn't change the fact that he's sucking Vale dry of every dust there is and that what use he'll have for those. After fifteen minutes of mulling over it, he shrugged.

It was none of his business. He didn't need those dust anyway since he has his own supply. Stealing from him would be an idiot move, even for Roman.

 **—O—**

Jaune had just down his fifteenth glass of the evening — even then, he still wasn't buzzed like the other lightweights in this club. It was a gift and a curse, he supposed. Being an aura monster with an aura amplification semblance to boot, his healing capabilities were off the charts exponentially more than the average huntsman.

With that, any foreign substance that can negatively affect his body can't have any adverse effect on him. That meant that he can't even get drunk and get a hangover. That's where the gift and the curse come up.

Back in his Beacon days as a student, he could intake as much alcohol that he can and not even be affected by it. His friends would be too wasted to even move after a party and he was perfectly fine by the sidelines. After partying, he would also be the one to carry them back to their rooms. Jaune was pretty happy with that too. He chuckle from the memory while downing another drink.

Then, there came the incident. He couldn't get drunk and he was still fine by the time he got to his twentieth bottle.

Motioning for the bartender, his attention was caught by the pair of people that walked out of the doors behind the bar. His eyes brightened in recognition when he saw Roman walking out with his hand on his cane and a cigar on the other. Then, he smiled when he noticed the short girl that came out with Roman — Neopolitan or Neo, as she would like to call herself.

While he didn't like Roman, Neo was a different story. When he first came to Roman — powerless and all that, it was to request him to forge a transcript good enough to get him in to Beacon in the same year. Although he was surprised that the infamous thief was only 2 years older than him, Roman was still a dangerous man. That was when he met Neo — a 12-year-old girl with dirty clothes and hair.

Jaune remembered cleaning her face with a piece of clothing, smiling brightly at her and giving her a shirt. He remembered her being surprised by his actions as if it was rare to happen for her. He remembered patting her head and following after Roman for his transcripts.

But now wasn't the time to dwell in memory lane.

"Roman." He said, as audible as possible — it was enough. The master thief's eyes roamed the seats at the bar before landing his gaze on Jaune. There was a moment of pause for the thief before a look of recognition appeared on his face.

"Jaune-y boy!" After hearing his exclamation, Neo perked up at the name calling when her eyes landed on Jaune. It was almost a repetition of what had happened this morning with Joan. Neo's expression brightened and then, ran up to glomp the young professor — almost making him spill his whiskey. But he didn't mind. Jaune returned the hug with one arm going around Neo's shoulders. "Well, I certainly didn't expect to see you here."

"Of course, you wouldn't." Jaune said, letting go of Neo as she sat beside him. "You probably thought I would go on with my little search for years." After the incident in Atlas and after he had recovered from his shock, Jaune had asked Roman for names in the White Fang ranks — going around the world in a wild goose chase.

"It crossed my mind. But it's a surprise that you even went back to me for something given my rep." Roman said, making Jaune laugh. The thief shook his head and sat beside Neo as he ordered a drink similar to Jaune's. "So, how've you been, Mr. Hero? Too busy saving uptight assholes and bitches?"

"Nothing of the sort. I was done being a hero after our time of bandit raids." While he and Roman were not at odds with each other, they had a more business-like partnership than most. Roman would ask a favor of this magnitude and Jaune would ask one on the same level. "Although, I hear you're going back to your old habits — stealing lien and dust. What gives?"

"Meh, nothing too important." Jaune hummed. He would've wanted to ask for more details but he thought that it wasn't worth the risk. Roman knew that he was a professional huntsman now. Who knows when they'll stab each other in the back? "How about you? I know you're a pro and all, but what are you doing in Vale and not out there on a manhunt?"

"A teacher. Ozpin made me take on a position there in Beacon. Initiation just got finished and classes aren't due till the next few days, so I got some downtime before doing my actual job." Jaune said, playing with his glass. "Though, I have to warn you, Roman. If we ever cross paths again or if I heard you hurting my students, I won't hesitate to bring you down." He never was one for threats but for those that know him; whenever he makes one, they know when to back down from it.

"I wouldn't even be dream of it." Roman said, bringing his hands up in a placating manner. However, the smug grin that was plastered on his face did fade. "In fact, I think that we can have a way with that. I'm gonna cash in my favor."

With a sigh, he turned to Roman. "I didn't know I still owe you a favor, Roman. If memory serves correct, I paid that favor when I helped you get out of Vacuo from those goddamn thugs."

"Warlords, Jaune." Roman corrected. "Thugs? I can handle by myself. Warlords, on the other hand, I can't. For the record, the favor was repaid when I got us out of that hellhole with my superb piloting skills." Ugh, Jaune walked in on that one. If that was the case, then he certainly has one favor left with Roman.

"Fine. What do you want?" He never saw the man's face being split in two with only a smile before. "And I hope it isn't something ridiculous…"

"Oh, I won't." He waved him off with his hand and it landed on top of Neo — who didn't even notice the contact and continued to eat her ice cream. "In truth, you won't even have to do a thing. All you got to do is put in a good word for us." This got him thrown off the loop. Confusion was evident on his face when he looked at Roman in the eye.

"For who exactly?"

"All in time, my good friend. You'll know when the time comes." Roman gulped down his drink. Jaune sighed from the cryptic message he gave him. Well, at least, it wasn't something that could literally get him to betray his superiors. Speaking of which…

"You know, Roman. This got me thinking. For a guy with a knack of escaping from arrest, you certainly wouldn't have made it yesterday if it wasn't for your mysterious partner-in-crime." This got an unexpected reaction from him. "Oh, yeah. I was there. If it wasn't for a certain pipsqueak or a blond-haired woman, you would've made your escape a little easier."

Roman paused for a moment before gulping down his drink. "So? You were there and what? That you could've done me a favor and saved me the trouble? If you haven't noticed, yesterday was like any normal day for me — it was still under my control."

"I doubt it." Jaune said. "If it wasn't for someone saving you skin, we wouldn't be having this conversation." He sighed when he realized that Roman was growing uncomfortable with him.

It was a rarity to see Roman on a hot seat for once. But as much as Jaune wanted to make that happen, he was still a contact in the background — albeit; a high profile one.

"Relax, Roman. All I'm saying is that you've got to keep a low profile every once in a while. And if you ever are in a pickle, just give me a call. I still have a debt to pay, after all." Jaune said. "Just… try not to kill anyone. You don't want any more heat than what you have now, do you?"

Roman shook his head with a smile and turned to Jaune. "I can make no promises. Besides, it'll gonna be more fun that way." He said. "I'll catch you later, Jaune-y Boy. Let's go, Neo."

"…" Neo, however, didn't seem to like the idea of going back.

"No, Neo. You've had your fill and you can spend as much time as you want with the kid whenever you have free time — but not on mine." She narrowed her eyes and glanced at Jaune, making him raise a brow. When she pouted in his direction, there wasn't much that he could do to quell her satisfaction.

"I think I can make some time this weekend." That was all that she needed as she hugged the blonde again, making her way towards the door and leaving Roman behind. "Looks like you've got your hands full."

"Yeah, sure do. Why does she listen to you and not to me though?" Roman whined.

With a lighthearted laugh, Jaune looked back to Roman. "Maybe I'm just that approachable than you are."

"Tch, whatever. See you later, kid." With a wave of his hand, Roman left Jaune alone.

Those two were always an interesting bunch. They never were too boring but they were sure as hell dangerous than anyone he ever encountered — aside from Glynda. She could literally bring down a house without even breaking a sweat.

Jaune sighed while nursing the new drink in his hands. He'd have to be more careful in the future though. It wouldn't do for him to meet Roman in public with so many eyes now that he was officially a teacher of Beacon. It'll come to bite him in the ass if that were to be made known. Well, Roman was infamous — Neo was still clean.

Downing another shot, he drank the last of the contents of the glass before leaving a couple of lien cards on the counter. "Done?" The bartender asked.

"Yeah, done…" He said walking to the exit. Well, this was one eventful evening…

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 **A/N: Yeah, it was slow but don't worry. I'll try to up the speed in the pacing. And the relationship between Jaune and Roman seem a little bit forced. But I tried to make it seem more believable by trying to tell their backgrounds for a little bit. Yeah, that's something.**

 **So, not much going on for this chapter. But I'm just trying to build up the momentum before we go down on some serious shit. I mean, we can't have them on a big battle so soon just at the start of the story, right?**

 **Anyway, tell me your thoughts on this one and I'll look into how much I can improve the story from this one. I'm sure that I'll need those criticisms right about now.**

 **BloodyCow, out!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hellooooo! What's up, guys!? BloodyCow is back and with another chapter!**

 **First of all, I want to thank everyone for their continued support of this fic and the reviews. Some were pretty helpful, some were just plain awesome and some were questions which will be answered here.**

 ***(I know that it's pretty much late to reply to reviews from the previous chapters but it's rude to just ignore them)**

 ***(To those that don't want to read these, I suggest reading the other part of this author's note marked with this *)**

 **One of you asked what I based the appearances of those two OCs of mine. Well, first off, we have Leona Solaris. She is based and inspired from the character in League of Legends, otherwise known as - you guessed it - Leona. Now, I know what you guys might be thinking - redhead, uses a sword and a shield, a circlet on her head - some might think that she's pretty much a Pyrrha Nikos look-a-like.**

 **The other is Iris Rackler. One of which is based around Nana Kozuki from God Eater 2 Rage Burst. She's the one on my profile image. Fun fact: Nana - in the game - uses a hammer and her color theme - in the game - is pink, which is highly identical to one Nora Valkyrie.**

 **Someone asked if Blake was one of the White Fang that attacked the convoy in Atlas 2 years before canon started. That's a pretty good question and an idea that I will consider to add to my story so kudos to you, random reviewer. So to answer your question, probably.**

 **Another asked about Jaune's semblance. Well, I already established it in the other chapters - particularly last chapter. He has a really good grasp on what his semblance can do. He can forcibly give his own aura to others and make them heal themselves. I was thinking about making have a better control of his aura than anyone else in the series. That's all I can say. I'll try to explain it in the story.**

 **One questioned why Jaune wouldn't want to teach. Well, imagine yourself in his situation. You came back from a manhunt and then all of the sudden, someone asked you to be a teacher and you're going to be stuck teaching hormonal high-powered teenagers with an explosive tendency to get into trouble with possibly a global terrorist group that has enough men and firepower that can tilt the balance of the world. Now tell me how you would want to teach them…?**

 ***As for the romance part of the story, I hadn't planned that far ahead just yet. But I am willing to create a poll in the near future after introducing more than half of the canon characters in my story or if I've introduced all of the characters that can have a potential relationship with this Jaune. Tell me in the reviews on who you guys want to see to get together with Jaune so that I can create the poll later on.**

 **And I'm sorry for nearly holding this out for nearly three weeks. I've just been busy with… you know, life (And video games! Let's not forget that).**

 **That's about it, for now. Anyway, here's the chapter! Enjoy!**

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 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY.**

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 **Chapter 5**

Situated in the teachers' lounge, Jaune and Glynda sat across each other with a coffee table in between and on the table were dozens of books and papers. There was only a day left before the students will officially start their classes.

While Jaune was already made teacher of Beacon, he still has to wait for the next semester for him to actually teach a class of his own. That was what happened with his colleague in front of him.

"Do you have any problems with the material or should I go over it again just in case we missed something?" Glynda said, as she kept her stern expression in place. "We're not going to have you teach a class just yet but it's safer to be prepared than not, right?"

"Don't worry, Glynda. I've got it covered." Jaune put on a tired smile and sighed afterwards. "While some of these classes are easy to understand, I don't know why Bart has got a plan to finish an entire book about Remnant's history within a week." He always did know of Bart's tendencies to go overboard but this was just too much. And it was a 900-page book to boot! While he knew his history well, but that's because he liked reading back in the day and he already studied these material before.

"Well, you know him better than any of us. I thought for sure that you're used to this type of unusual behavior of his." She raised a brow.

"Oh, believe me, I do." Jaune chuckled. "This is just one of those days. I'll try to talk him out of this if I can — maybe get him to try to finish it within two months or so. Gods know, that the kids are gonna need that reprieve."

Glynda gave a solemn nod. "Please do so. I know for sure that he is one of the reasons why students cannot keep up with his lecture and that they'd end up failing for it." He heard her sigh. "Maybe I should do something about the coffee in this place…" She shook her head of those petty thoughts of retribution, seeing as how it wasn't likely to happen anytime soon — with Ozpin's likely intervention of it. "How are you taking your position here? I will assume that it's overwhelming to have that much authority over the students."

Jaune laughed. "Well, it certainly is. Though, I wouldn't have that much of a problem since they look up to me somehow." Most of the students would pass him by and greet him — of course, he'd return it in kind with a small smile of his own. Although, there was some difficulties that came with the way he treated the students.

While he may have been incredibly dense during the start of his student years, his obliviousness had dropped down to a certain degree. He already noticed the intense gazes directed towards him by the students. Though, it really bothered him that it only took being a teacher to be popular with the ladies — ladies that were almost a decade younger than him.

"Hm, that seems to be the case for you. You seem to be awfully popular with the students than most of the staff — but I don't understand the reason." Oh, he could tell her. But that would just backfire on him and it would probably get some students in trouble.

"I don't know too." He lied through his smile.

"Well, in any case, the only problem we have now would be Doctor Oobleck's amount of material in his lesson plans and that wouldn't be until the next day for his class." She said, closing the book in front of her. "For now, you have Professor Port's class in an hour. I suggest that you have to prepare for it as it will be two hours long." Glynda started to collect the papers and the books that lay across the table as she didn't utter another word.

She was always like this. Despite being the deputy headmistress of Beacon, she was also the one who would make sure that their new teachers would be up to snuff with the lectures — teachers that were new to this stuff that they could make mistakes. A _lot_ of mistakes.

Then, it will lead to her being more irritated than ever. There was a reason why Glynda always seem irritable before combat classes begin.

"Then, I suggest that you do the same. Practice what you preach and all that." He said as he took hold of the heavy books and papers Glynda stacked on the table and placed it on the shelf beside the doors, while he kept the stacks of papers in his hands. "I'll go on ahead to Professor Port's classroom. See you later, Glynda."

He didn't wait for her to reply but he knew that she'd follow up with his advice. Jaune may be a new teacher here, but he certainly wasn't new in Beacon. He already knew the rules and regulations that needed to be upheld by the students and the staff. Not to mention, he lived at this place for 4 years and some visits as one of Ozpin's agents.

Which was why he thought the place was a painful reminder of what he had. He had a good life in Beacon with his team — one that he considered to be family.

He bled, cried, trained, and laughed with them in this very establishment. Jaune was still sore from the fact that he couldn't do anything to prevent his teammates from dying then — and being back in Beacon just reminded him of how much he had lost. Teaching the students wasn't much of a good idea before since he knows how much trouble they're worth — especially; if they think they're some kind of heroic vigilantes.

But thinking on it again, he could probably teach them to prevent a tragedy that befell him from happening to them. Plus, his baby sister was here so there was no chance in hell that he'll leave a puppy alone in a den of wolves.

Jaune shook his head of his thoughts with a smile. It certainly has been a long time ever since he saw one of his sisters and Joan grew up to be a fine lady. But enough of reminiscing memories, he still had a job to do.

In minutes, he had navigated the maze-like hallways and arrived at Port's class with a little more time to spare. That meant he could learn what the lesson plan the portly man had for the class.

He paused and shrugged. Peter's never gonna go through such a troublesome thing as planning and just wing it from where his mind fly off to. Not to mention his narcissistic stories of himself. He dreaded to imagine that he would have to go through the same torture again. Maybe he should bring ear muffs next time.

"Ah! Jaune, my boy! It's nice to see you! But may I ask what brings you here?" Peter looked up from below and saw him before he entered. "Is it for my dashing good looks?" Jaune grimaced. "Or is it for my famed stories that have spread all throughout the academy? Or perhaps, some romantic advice for a certain blonde haired and spectacled woman?" The first one; he nearly fainted. The second, however, only made him confused to what he meant. But he guessed that's what made Peter… Peter, then. Just making people confused that enlightened.

With a shake of his head, Jaune walked down the stairs that led to the semi-circle area where the professors taught. "None of the above, Prof."

"We will have none of that prof-nonsense, my boy!" Jaune winced at the volume that rang out in the nearly quiet room, making his ears ring. "From this day and onwards, we will be colleagues against the mass horde of students that will come for our manhood! We will be comrades-in-arms that will fight against the creatures of Grimm. It is better if you would refer to me as Peter."

Jaune nervously chuckle at the sheer confidence that this man exude and nodded at his _colleague_. But it wasn't all that bad, he supposed. He'd only have to worry about his stories.

Alas, he spoke too soon.

"Uh, Pro — Peter?" But his eyes weren't trained on him.

"Yes, my boy?"

"Is that what I think it is?" A six-foot tall steel cage stood tall at the side of the office. A steam-like breath blew out of the cage and a low growl was heard. Jaune could see white-plated bone-like armor on the beast like a carapace and crimson eyes stared back at him full of beastly anger. It was a Boarbatusk.

Once he finally had a good look at it, Jaune sighed. It was only the first day and he already felt like Peter was going overboard — much like Bart. He wasn't even surprised when the man heaved out a hearty laugh, slapping at Jaune's back.

"I see you have found the star of my lesson today! What's more exciting than giving a live demonstration for the students of what a true huntsman should be like?!" Peter might've as good as shouted if the loudness of his voice was any indication. "Just think of it for a moment, a huntsman-in-training against the might of the Grimm. Is there no better adventure than the thrill of danger?!"

"Is it even safe to have a live Grimm in the middle of a classroom?!" Jaune shouted nearly panicking. Sure, he was a professional monster-slaying guy. But having a _live_ Grimm in the middle of the freaking room where there potential students with no goddamn weapons was a disaster waiting to happen. Not to mention the amount of staff — _civilian_ staff that they had.

"I assure you, lad! There is nothing perfectly safe about this!"

"Then, why did you do it?!" Jaune shouted. Not anymore caring that _this_ man was once his proud professor that taught him the dangers of battling with Grimm. But Peter shook his head in amusement.

"For the hell of it! But the students will be perfectly fine with this beast in its cage." Peter laughed jovially and slapped the cage with his palm. "The cage can withstand any blunt force that the beast can dish out!"

A loud thud of metal hitting concrete was heard. For once, there was complete silence in the room — though, mostly from its two human occupants were wide-eyed shocked at the now opened caged.

The only thing that was heard before chaos was ensued was a slap of a hand on a forehead and a mumble of Jaune. "Goddammit… Glynda's going to kill me…"

 **—O—**

Ruby Rose was more than happy now that her dream was finally being realized. She was to become a huntress in the next four years! How awesome was that? Sure, there may have been some problems with a few people — specifically Weiss — but that didn't mean that the others were happy for her.

Yang, in particular, was beaming with pride like what any sister would be. Blake gave her congratulations and that seemed to be enough for the quiet girl. Not to mention, team JNPR led by Joan was becoming fast friends with them. She didn't know if it was because Joan was her first friend here in Beacon but she sure wasn't going to take it for granted.

The only problem was Weiss. She seems a little mad with her even after all the stuff about becoming nicer to her. But she'll come around… eventually.

But enough of all that sappy stuff! It's time for some cookies!

"Ruby, that's the fifth cookie that you had for breakfast. Can't you eat with something — oh, I don't know — healthier?" Then, there was that. Yang was always watching out for her and that meant she also had to look out for her health. That was probably why her cookies were replaced by oatmeal. Ugh!

"Yang!" She whined. "Come on, can't you just let me off the hook for at least a day with that? I mean, I ate pancakes yesterday."

"And those pancakes were smothered by syrup." Yang crossed her arms. "You can have the cookies after having this."

Ruby's enthusiasm for the day deflated. Her forehead banging on the table. "This sucks…" There was a laugh nearby and Ruby had to raise her head a little to see Joan and her team laughing at her. Oh, fine. Make fun of the youngest of them.

Joan had noticed the glare that Ruby sent her way but Joan didn't even feel threatened by it — probably used to it.

"Oh, don't be too sore about that Ruby." Joan said. "My big brother used to tell me off as well whenever it comes to my eating habits." Chicken nuggets were probably healthier than some. But eating just that for dinner would certainly catch the attention of their mother and eldest sibling.

"You have a brother?" Pyrrha asked beside Joan. Though, the blonde girl only stare at her like it was a stupid question. "W-what?"

"You already know that I have a brother, Pyrrha." An incredulous look appeared on Joan's face. "You all do actually." The only people that didn't seem shock were Blake Belladonna and Lie Ren — who each had a stoic expression on their faces — one of them having a book at hand. However, the rest of them seemed shocked and confused by this development. Joan rolled her eyes and sighed. "Joan Arc? Isn't there someone else here that's also named Arc by any chance?"

"The new professor at initiation." Ren helpfully added. "I believe he was called Jaune Arc."

"Yup!" Joan chirped. "Jaune Arc — the new professor — is my big brother, the eldest of the Arc siblings." The table got a little rowdy after that statement. Well, their reactions could've been worse but thankfully, it didn't escalate.

Though, one comment had stood out among the others. "Ruby, didn't you say that was the guy that saved you the other night?" Ruby fervently nodded, which made Yang show an amused grin. "And you've never stopped telling about what happened to that night."

"Well, of course, I would." Ruby said. "I just saw my life flash before my eyes. The roof would've exploded under me and Professor Goodwitch if it weren't for him." Who wouldn't? Ruby had always admired huntsmen and huntresses. They've done their job time and time again. She wanted to be one of them — to fight off hordes of Grimm while protecting innocent civilians.

"Sounds to me like someone has a crush on him…" Yang immediately quipped. "Like a knight in shining armor swooping down to save a frail princess. Looks like a plot in one of your stories, Blake."

"I beg to differ." Blake said without looking away from her book. "My books don't have that type of innocent and naïve plotline."

"Sure, since most of them are smut." Yellow eyes narrowed at a grinning face.

"I prefer the term — mature content." She tried to defend herself.

"Still the same if you ask me." And she failed miserably.

"In any case," Joan said, trying to keep the two from fighting which was about to happen from the tension that she could see in Blake. She turned to Ruby, who had flushed red as her namesake. "Ruby, I don't think Yang has meant all of that stuff. She's just trying to tease you." Even though Yang meant it as a tease to poor Ruby, Joan couldn't help the pang of jealousy that arose in her chest.

"Yeah, I guess." The young girl mumbled out. "But you never did mention that you had a brother here before."

"Well, to be fair, I only met you guys a couple of days ago. So, I probably haven't had a chance to mention it until now." If they were truly attentive to some details, all of them probably would've noticed it by now. "Besides, he's probably not going to be an instructor in our year. He's going to teach in the upper year levels."

"Why do you think that?" Ruby asked. If they asked her opinion, she would've thought that Jaune — or Professor Arc would be better at teaching the newer students.

"Big Bro is just good like that." Joan sighed. "He graduated at the top of his year with a 5% failure rate in all of his missions and a zero-casualty count. It's almost terrifying of how much he can accomplish. So, it would be pretty obvious why I think that. He certainly put up a very high bar to catch."

Their parents were pretty proud of what he's done — going out there, saving lives like it was just as easy as breathing for him. While none of her older sisters followed in his footsteps, Joan wanted to be like him and their parents. She wanted to be different from her sisters — an individualism and the like.

With eight siblings, it was hard to get some attention for her growth. But it turned out okay. Since, the one that had watched over the younger ones — including herself — was Jaune. He looked out for his younger siblings and spoiled them rotten until the day came where he left for Beacon without even telling their father.

But Mother knew — only because Jaune knew that she would unleash all her wrath and fury onto him if he didn't tell her. In return, she wouldn't tell their father.

"It must be upsetting to have a brother regarded with such high expectations." Joan was surprised to see that it was Weiss that had spoken and apparently, she wasn't the only one as everyone turned their eyes on her. "I have an older sister as well that's made many achievements even before she graduated Atlas Academy. It makes me wonder what more can we achieve with such outstanding siblings as measures in our lives."

Despite the shock running through her veins, Joan knew what she meant but she didn't have that kind of burden. "Yeah, that's what you get for having such talented people as family." She could never compare herself to her brother — even the thought of it was unthinkable.

"Wow… Weiss is actually socializing…" Said person swiftly turned her head that surprised Joan that Weiss didn't get whiplashed. "Looks like she isn't much of an Ice Queen, huh?"

"Hey!" Weiss snapped at Yang and proceeded to give her a tongue lashing. Though, Yang didn't mind much and just snickered along with Ruby and Pyrrha. It was kinda amusing to see the heiress blow a fuse every once in a while.

"Um, guys?" Blake said. But everyone else was too busy watching Weiss get red in the face that they didn't notice her speak. "Guys?" She tried just a little louder that before.

But she was ignored.

"Guys?" She tried again. Blake wanted to just bolt and run but she didn't want to abandon her new teammates. This time managing to catch the attention of the others. Though, Blake didn't look down on them once. "I think we should move… Like, right now!"

That was all the warning that they got before the glass behind them shattered into a million pieces, hearing the sounds of something akin to a pig and a loud man breathing heavily.

Teams RWBY and JNPR jumped away from their table and landed farther but still the closest to the unidentified threat.

Everyone in the cafeteria either ran or stayed behind to see what the commotion was all about. Ruby's and Joan's group had certainly stayed. But they didn't know that the ones that ran away were the lucky ones before setting their gaze upon the new arrivals.

"Haha! I've got you now, beast!" The sight of a sweaty, old and portly man with his nearly naked form for the world to see. His feet were on top of a Boarbatusk with some rope on his hands that the man had managed to put around the Grimm's tusks. "You didn't expect that little ol' Peter would be the one to catch you, did you? I have captured you once, I can capture you again!" The man — now confirmed as Professor Peter Port — laughed loudly while the Grimm was trying to get the naked man off of it, completely unaware of what effect that he had on the students that witnessed the sight.

Team's RWBY and JNPR all looked ill and some ready to vomit at a moment's notice.

Yang desperately tried to cover her own eyes as well as Ruby's but unfortunately, the poor young girl has already seen enough. Weiss had her mouth agape at the ridiculous situation but more so at the state of dress that the man was in. Poor Blake can't purge the image due to her vivid imagination — this will surely haunt her for a lifetime.

Team JNPR weren't faring any better.

Joan looked ready to vomit — staying true to the moniker that she earned from Yang. Even the ever stoic Ren had his eyes wide opened and stood shocked and still. Nora was trying to cover Ren's and her eyes from the scene and tried to look away. Pyrrha looks as if she had been violated from the way that she was shaking on the spot with her hands covering her face.

This truly marks the day that teams RWBY and JNPR had been traumatized by a single look at a naked Peter Port.

 **—O—**

Jaune ran as fast as he could, whilst searching for the man he was going to kill and torture and kill the Grimm that had gotten loose on campus. It was only the first day and it was already gone to shit! He already had that strange feeling when he woke up that he would definitely need his weapons. But, no! Glynda had just said that he wouldn't need it and left it at his room — he should've at least kept his dual guns and hid it under his uniform coat.

Then, he had to run all the way across the campus to get his sword and guns to hunt down the Grimm. He was already sure that word would've gotten to Ozpin and Glynda by now and probably the entire school. Someone would've probably gotten to it already but Jaune wanted to be sure and not be caught unarmed by a Grimm.

Not that he could fight with only his hands and feet. He could — only that it'd take him longer to kill the Grimm.

"Haha! I have you now, beas—! Wah, whoa!" He heard the _manly_ shriek before he saw Peter. And gods, did he want to by some bleach and rub it on his brain. Said man flew over Jaune and into the fountain in the courtyard — at least, he would be safe… for now.

"I swear to the gods Peter that if you got people hurt I will personally carry out your punishment." Jaune growled

He heard some screaming from the cafeteria and sprinted towards it. Though, imagine his surprise when he saw some students trying to fend off the Boarbatusk while having the other students evacuate the building — one of them being his little sister.

"Hey!" His voice was loud enough that it got the attention of everyone in the room. Even the Grimm.

Jaune didn't need to say anymore as the Boarbatusk tucks itself into a wheel and began rolling towards him. But he could only sigh. He reached over his sword that was sheathed behind his back and pulled out his sword — Rebellion. With a sleight of his hand, the sword had already been swung and the boar had flown up into the air like some tennis ball. It continued flying — it even went through the ceiling which was a 50 or less foot tall from the ground.

The force of the swing was so strong that everyone in the room had felt that strong gust of wind that picked up after the Boarbatusk was sent flying.

"I guess I hit a home-run…" Jaune said whimsically, he heard someone laugh — though, he didn't mind much of it at the moment. But he still hoped that was enough to kill the Grimm. Boarbatusk were said to be even sturdier than an Ursa Major, hence the reason for the strong attack. Jaune was more than ready to relax but he stopped when he heard the squeal of the Grimm. He sighed again.

He held Rebellion like anyone would a bat and waited for the right moment.

"Batter up!" Then, Jaune swung his blade. The boar wasn't as so much as flown towards the other end of the cafeteria with the speed of a bullet and it hit right in the middle of the wall. There was another gust of wind but it died down eventually.

The sight that followed looked to be like from a horror film. Black blood splattered all across the wall. But not only that, spider web cracks formed on the wall — well, it looked more like a sideways crater to Jaune that anything else.

"Now, I can consider myself an artist. That's one good painting." Well, it was abstract, sure, but it looked nice. Beacon surely needed someone to take care of interior decorating of this place.

"You'll only be an artist of chaos if this keeps up in the next few weeks to come." He froze as the voice sounded in the air. To be fair, it wasn't only him that froze up but nearly everyone in the room. Slowly turning his head, he was faced with the stern glare that she was quite famous for. One thing was for sure, she was not happy. "So, what's this I'm hearing about loose Grimm in the campus?" She raised one brow.

"It's… I, uh…" Jaune stuttered, which didn't amuse Glynda in the least. And he was just talking to her about not going to add into her workload earlier. "Would you believe me that Peter's at fault?"

"Raaah!" Peter jumped from the hole that he flew through earlier and jump into the cafeteria with nothing but shredded clothing. "Where's the beast, my boy? We still have to use it for class demonstration!" Jaune sighed and closed his eyes again. The others did as well. Glynda, though, stared at the man with an incredulous expression with her eyebrow twitching.

Needless to say, they got into trouble. And damn did it like he was a student again.

 **—O—**

"So Jaune Arc's finally returned?" General James Ironwood of the Atlas military and academy sat alone on his chair behind his desk. The headmaster's room in Atlas academy was nothing like Beacon's. It was simple and only maintained the bare essentials for a room. To top it all off, the room was painted white — just like any other places in Atlas.

On his desk, papers that were needed to be signed were long forgotten — his mind completely elsewhere. It's been two and a half years since he last saw Jaune and that was when he and his team were on a mission here in Atlas. James always felt guilty of sending them on that mission, even though he knew that there was White Fang movement in the forest area.

Despite the mission going haywire, Jaune still made the effort of saving his troops from the attack, which meant he still had a debt to pay. Not to mention that he promised one of his specialist to inform her of his return.

"Corporal," He called out and it was answered by the door opening with a head popping out. "Call for Specialist Schnee. I have a promise to keep."

* * *

 **A/N: Again, thank you, everyone, for your continued support! And again, sorry for keeping this off until now.**

 **I'll see you guys next time. BloodyCow, out!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hellooooo! What's up guys? BloodyCow is back with another chapter to give!**

 **Okay, first of all, I want to say is that I noticed that there aren't that much people that can be paired up with Jaune which has the same age as him. So, I'm going to spread the net for the age range (which should start at 18 to 35). Maybe some of you will try to point out that 35 will be way out of his range but let me remind you that the difference between 35 and 26 is only 9 years, while 26 and 18 has 8 years.**

 **I'm not gonna go past a decade if anyone asks. Besides, I think age doesn't really matter anymore when they're out there fighting Grimm that could pretty much kill them all if they're not careful. And like the saying goes, 'Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.' By Mark Twain.**

 **And I'm scratching the poll idea. I just realized that it's pretty much a hassle for anyone really and stupid if I had a say in it. I can just have anyone review it or try to PM me if they have a chance to do it. I can probably tally it with a notepad and update the wanted pairing.**

 **That being said, just write a review or PM and I'll consider it. Speaking of which, some had already spoken their pairings for this fic. I got a ton of love for the Winter and Jaune (which is called Rebounded, by the way, in case no one knows) pairing - even though the girl hasn't even appeared in the fic yet.**

 **I believe someone said that Winter should be at least in her early twenties since I heard that she was 4 to 5 years older than Weiss - which should make Jaune 3 to 4 years older than Winter. So, maybe I can somehow make it work - particularly, in this chapter. But nothing more than a background check.**

 **Anyway, that's enough of my rambling. Time for the story!**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

Weiss Schnee stomped away from the room as soon as Port had dismissed the class. Despite the rather… disturbing morning, classes had begun normally and it was by chance that her team had been placed in the class of a professor, who was also the one that apparently caused trouble this morning. But regardless of his… flaws, Professor Port had given a lecture that was certainly _enlightening_ , to say the least. Though that didn't mean that everyone had given their all during their official first day of classes.

She didn't know what was worse — the incessant badgering of her father or the childish attitude of her supposed leader. Ruby was supposed to act like one but apparently, no one had decided to give her a manual on how to do it. Weiss would've given anything to be a leader or at least, to be placed at any team without her as leader.

They may have made a promise to work as a team together but she will not in a team led by Ruby.

Soon after, she found herself in an open veranda with no people in sight. A warm light breeze wafted through the area, making her school uniform and off-center ponytail flutter in the wind. The setting sun shone and coated Beacon in a bright orange hue. Weiss reveled and welcomed the warmth — something that she missed from her mother when she still cared for them.

Unconsciously, she stepped up towards the metal railings at the edges of the veranda and closed her eyes to bask in the glow. This was something that she liked about Vale rather than the plain and dull sight of Atlas. The climate was warmer here — that much was obvious — and it was something that someone from Atlas would rebuked, saying something along the lines of, 'Vale is hot' or 'The temperature there can burn skin'.

Regardless of that, she found it comforting than the bite of cold in the north. If she told Winter this, Weiss knew she'd agree. As well as Klein — the Schnee Family butler. There was something about the warm weather that soothes her nerves and calms her emotions — she'd certainly need that before going back to her dorm room.

She may also want to consult a teacher about this. Even if she had not openly argued or pointed out about Ruby's position as leader, she still wanted to know the reason why it became like this — how a child can inherit such burden without even doing anything.

The scraping of a shoes' underneath made her alert. Swiftly turning around, she conjured a glyph towards the intruder — though, it was harmless and only meant to disable. But her hardened expression faltered when she looked at Professor Arc's laid-back face. "P-professor Arc!"

Weiss stumbled as she stepped back, only realizing that there were some railings behind her. The glyph disappeared and her arm fell back to her side. She waited with bated breath for her to be reprimanded for almost using a dangerous technique on a teacher. But no response came from him for a minute.

Hesitantly, she looked up at him. Weiss always hated the fact that some people were always too tall and that she had to raise her head and look up to them — it gave her as sense of inferiority.

"You look just like her…" She jumped slightly — though, nothing more than a twitch in her facial expressions. "The resemblance is uncanny…" Her? Who was _her_? Of course, if it were any other person, they'd be more confused with just those words. But for Weiss, who was a Schnee, there were only a handful of people that could be very familiar or similar to the Schnee Family. And if she were to assume that her sources had a little bit of truth to them, he would be at the right age.

The right age to be close to her sister's.

"Wi… Winter?" Weiss tried. And she got a response that was shocking — he smiled.

"Yeah, that's the one. I wouldn't be surprised if you managed to deduce that much from my words. You're just like Winter in a lot of ways." He gave her a critical look before snorting. "Well, in most cases." She didn't know whether to be offended or flattered by that — given that there was a hint of mocking in his last words.

"You know my sister?"

"I know a lot of people. Winter's one of them and someone that was close to me other than my team back then." He mused. "You could say that she's one of my closest friends. But you know, Weiss — friendship doesn't always have to be great and good upon meeting for the first time. It might be rocky for some people — and heck, two people might start outright disliking each other. I'll give you a guess on which one was Winter's and mine?"

"The… the first one?" She tried. But it only resulted in getting her head petted by him — all the while, laughing.

"Nice try, kiddo. But it's the second one. Your sister and I never see eye to eye back then. She was already a commanding officer back then just at the age of 19, when I was a leader of my own team of huntsmen. We'd butt heads whenever one of us had an idea and argue about in the most heated way." She didn't know why but Weiss was drawn to the story — much more than Professor Port's. "She's a perfectionist always wanting things to go out perfectly in every mission. But I just wanted the missions to be finished without anyone dying."

Weiss never heard of stories from Winter's missions in the military. She never knew anyone from there that were particularly close to her in any way. But now, here she was — listening to one person that seemed to have worked with her in the past. From his demeanor, she wouldn't have guessed that he once had work with her sister.

"Despite everything that had happened and after a year of working with one another, your sister and I had an odd camaraderie, if you want to get technical." He laughed cordially, having already leant beside her on the railings and looking out of the campus. "We've been good friends since then. And it all started with a childish argument."

"What is it exactly are you trying to say, Professor?"

"None of that professor-crap. I feel old when someone calls me that — besides; you're my friend's sister. It's alright for you to call me by my name in private." He waved off a hand in front of him. "Well, what I'm trying to say is… you gotta give Pipsqueak a chance."

"Pipsqueak…?"

"Sorry. I meant Ruby." Oh… "Weiss, I told you a difference between Winter and I. I want to give you an idea why you and Ruby are in the same position as us."

"B-but we aren't even arguing about anything!"

"Oh, then, please do tell what could've happened back in Peter's class if he hadn't dismissed early after giving his lessons." Ah, she would've snapped at her for being so childish in class and with no outlet to release to, she walked away from the team. "Yeah, I thought so. Weiss, Ruby's not exactly the leader material that I have seen. I should know — I was a leader of my team in this academy and even then, I wasn't exactly a role model for my team. But take in mind that it's only been a few days. You can't expect anything from her since it's only been the start of the semester. It took me a whole year to get into the swing of things before taking my role seriously."

"But she's not you!" She argued. No one can exactly compare to her situation. Ruby was younger and she was made leader while a Schnee — who was trained to become leader and a huntress — was pushed aside for a young prodigal child. "She's younger than any of us and she was still made leader! All she's ever done was to act the child that she is and she has done nothing to earn her position whatsoever! She doesn't deserve it…"

He didn't speak for a while, only making silence daunting and unbearable.

"Let me tell you, it's not about being a leader, Weiss, it's about upholding what is true to you." She widened her eyes. She didn't know where that came from. "Do you think that being a leader would help you in any way to grow as person? Is being a leader truly what your heart wants? Instead of focusing on what you want, relish in what you have."

"I…" Her words were stuck in her throat but it was more like she didn't have anything to say to that. Being a leader was all that she was taught. It was a means of education in time when she inherits the company. It's all she's ever known. But she knew that wasn't what she wanted — not a title or a badge to flaunt around but something like what Winter found in her experience with Jaune.

Weiss shook her head and Jaune smiled.

"Ruby may not be the best leader." He looked at her with a meaningful glance. "But with some help, she can overcome the obstacles that go with being a leader. Just a chance will do, in your case." She released a breath that she didn't know that she was holding in as she looked away from his gaze.

The sound of clothes rustling caught her attention and the soft thump of leathered boots hitting pavement indicated that Professor Arc had started to walk away. Weiss looked at his retreating back before his hand swiftly grabbed to his left but she didn't see what it was he was doing. He pulled his arm and out came the subject of their little talk.

"R-Ruby?!"

"I suggest you start now, Weiss." He looked over his shoulder with a smile and turned his attention back to Ruby. "I'll see ya later, Pipsqueak." He said before ruffling the young girl's hair. Ruby gave out an indignant yelp as she tried to remove his hands. With a chuckle, he turned the corner — out of their sights.

Now comes the awkward moment.

"H-hey, Weiss…" Ruby started.

"Ruby…" The heiress said. "How long have you been listening?" Ruby's eyes widened but shrank back to normal. She looked away while her forefingers touched at the tips and the tips of her shoes tapped on concrete. At least, she had looked shameful for the act.

"U-uh, um, from the s-start?" Her anger flared a bit inside but remembered what Jaune had told her — to give her a chance. "Uh, is that bad?"

Weiss sighed. "Yes, Ruby. It's bad to eavesdrop on someone's conversation. But I guess I'll forgive you just this once." A silence followed and the both of them didn't speak for a moment. "Um, Ruby. I… I should apologize for being so rude to you in the last few days. I was being selfish and I thought that… you didn't deserve it."

Ruby seemed to a deflated upon hearing her say it.

"But…" The young girl perked up at that. "I'm willing to give it a chance — a chance to for you to grow and a chance for me to become a friend."

Her silver eyes widened at an increasing rate before her face was split by a huge grin. Weiss didn't get a chance to utter another word before the younger girl proceeded to tackle her to the ground with a spine-crushing hug.

"Aw, Weiss! I promise to do whatever it takes for you to be proud of me!"

She lamented the fact whether she wanted this to happen or not. But she guessed that there was no turning back now.

 **— O—**

Jaune watched with amusement in his eyes as the red-themed girl had tackled Weiss to the ground from the entrance. It hadn't even been five minutes before the two were starting to get along with one another. Just another reason why he would want to teach. If it were led to chance, he knew that team RWBY would be falling apart even before their trip to Forever Fall next month.

He didn't want that. He likes those two little Pipsqueaks — Weiss would've been Pipsqueak #2, if only he knew that Winter would have his head when she hears him say that. But watching the two getting along made him think of how his old team used to be.

His partner would consistently badger over his training and schoolwork but she was helping him to a degree, while the other two would also be in a heated discussion — a genius in mechanics and an enthusiast of history.

Ah, those were the days.

"I see that you have made Miss Schnee and Miss Rose make up." He didn't even need to know who it was that spoke from behind him. "It seems that my intervention isn't exactly needed at the moment." When has Ozpin ever show the need to interfere in a student's life? But he guessed that's just how favoritism works…

"All that was needed was a few well-placed words and we have a new team to watch out for." Jaune said. "Did you know that this would happen? Having Pipsqueak become leader instead of the other members of team RWBY? We both know that Weiss is more than qualified to become leader but I was shocked when the Schnee wasn't made one."

"Well, considering your history one Schnee, I thought that it would be a welcomed changed to have someone else take up the mantle of leadership instead of the expectations placed on the young girl." Ozpin said, sipping on his signature mug. "The same could be said to your sister. I could very well placed Miss Nikos or Mr Lie on the pedestal but in regards to their own personalities, I believe that Joan would do well in her new role — especially if her skills in tactics are to be evaluated."

Jaune huffed before crossing her arms, eyes still on the two girls. "Joan was always the tactician. She even beat me in chess once — but she still has a lot of catching up to do." When he saw Ruby and Weiss shaking hands, he knew that was their cue to leave.

Following after Ozpin, the two had turned down the corridor and into another hallway towards the exit.

"Any news on Amber?" Jaune asked.

"She's still stable and she still has a lot of time before the Vytal Festival in the third semester." Ozpin answered.

"We could use my semblance to heal her, you know?" By this time, the two of them had stepped foot into the courtyard. The sun finally fell down the horizon and the lamppost in the courtyard lit up, making the area brighten. The warm breeze was now replaced by a cooler one. They noticed a few students gathering their belongings and going back inside their dorm building.

"While your semblance is rather unique and valuable, it is currently not aura that she needs now. All we can do at the moment is wait." The pair had stopped in front of a tall tower. "But in the meantime, do what you must with the students and the free time that you have at your hands — try your hand at a hobby, perhaps, writing will do the trick."

The headmaster entered the tower while Jaune followed. The ground floor was just an empty space with a few pictures of the previous headmasters of Beacon and a set of elevator doors. "Writing isn't my best suit. You know that, Oz."

"Well, I'm just trying to ease your time here in Beacon. You don't know how much you'll appreciate your free time once you become a teacher in Beacon." He stepped foot into the elevator but Jaune didn't follow. "Oh, and one other thing. You'll be having a visitor from Atlas in a few weeks. James wants to know how you've been all these years. And if he is anything that we know, he'll send someone who has an experience in dealing with you. Have a good night, Jaune."

Oh, shit… There was only one other person in Atlas that he's actually in good terms with, so, he was slightly looking forward to it. Other than that, nothing else new for him. Maybe, he could help Glynda with some paperwork in the meantime.

 **—O—**

Joan shifted her shield position so that it was between her and her opponent. Lightning swift strike struck her shield but she held her ground as there was no real force behind the attack. Peering above her shield, she saw Ren making another round towards her — his step almost as light as a feather.

She widened her eyes when he directed his guns towards her. Crouching in one knee, Joan hid behind her shield as it was pelted with a hail of bullets. But she shouldn't stay in the defensive for long. As soon as Ren stopped firing, she ran towards him with her sword trailing behind her and her shield raised in front of her.

Ren saw this chance and ran to meet her halfway, but instead of using his weapons, he hid them in his sleeves and opted for hand-to-hand combat.

He tried to sweep for her legs.

But she jumped and twirled in the air — Crocea Mors' tip almost slashing across his cheeks. With her momentum drawing her forward, she landed on the ground with a roll before raising her shield again in a defensive position.

Her opponent had reset his stance to a defensive one as well.

To say that Jaune was impressed was only taking it lightly. He didn't know how much Joan had improved in just two years of training but he guessed that she was the same as him — a quick learner. Not only that but she was mimicking his movements after the fight between him and their father after his graduation.

At his side, he knew that Glynda was also evaluating Joan's and Ren's fighting ability and she seemed impressed at least.

However, the two were merely testing the waters at the moment, seeing how none of them had ever truly gone for a solid strike. The real fight begins after that.

It was Joan that moved first as she sprinted to where Ren was. Upon striking distance, she went for a horizontal slash of Crocea Mors towards his mid-section.

Ren only had to move slightly back to dodge it.

But Joan wasn't finished. With a mighty roar, she spun on the spot and went low for his legs. Much like what had happened before, Ren jumped before the attack can connect and spun with his leg raised high for an overhead kick.

Joan raised her shield and gasped. Her arm nearly buckled under the sheer force of the kick but she gritted her teeth and managed to withstand it. She pushed off the leg and aimed for his neck with her shield.

Ren was quick to react as he was already under her guard.

Her eyes widened when she noticed two of Ren's fingers were coated in a green aura. She coughed out spit when the two fingers were driven to her gut and an elbow struck the underneath of her jaw. She nearly blacked out for a moment and she already lost feeling to her upper torso.

Who knew that Ren can do those types of things?

"Match over!" She heard Professor Goodwitch say. When she looked up, she wasn't that surprised by it. Ren's aura was in the yellow while hers just dipped in the red. "Splendid display of skills to the both of you."

Joan brightened at the praise and shot her brother a grin — to which was mirrored by Jaune with one of his own.

"However," Her inner celebration was cut short. "While the both of you have remarkable skills, it will not suffice in the long run. But there is still room for improvement and I suggest that all of you should start working on it. Class dismissed."

The blonde girl sighed as she directed a pout towards her brother, when he smiled and turned away — already heading over to Professor Goodwitch. She felt a hand clap over her shoulder. "It was a good fight." Ren said.

Joan smiled at him, albeit; it was strained. "Yeah, good fight."

"Are you alright? Should we take you to the infirmary?" Joan waved it off.

"Why don't you and the others head back? I need to talk to my brother." Ren hesitated for a moment and gave her another look but nodded in the end. Joan sighed when he left. She didn't know why but she felt frustrated when she lost the match. Well, it was supposed to find out on what level she was on but still...

It seems that two years was still not enough to actually have an advantage over the other students even though she had only fought Ren.

Jaune was still talking with Professor Goodwitch, which still bothered her to no end. She didn't know what type of relationship the two had — be it lovers or something like that. Then, there was the smile the older woman gave to Jaune. It was like she's looking at a different person from the Professor Goodwitch earlier.

Thankfully, he left her alone when she went inside the supplies cabinet of the combat room. When he turned around, Joan was already in front of him with a firm pair of blue eyes staring back at him. "Well, isn't this a surprise? What can I do for you, little sister?"

The response was immediate. "I want you to train me." If there was anyone that she wanted to train her with Crocea Mors, who would be better than the person who used it in the past? The moment of pause for Joan was even tenser than she thought possible than in her match. She saw a flash of light in his eyes that she thought was a trick of the light.

"Sure, I'll train you." He nodded. "But before any of that, I want to test how far you really are. Just seeing it is not enough. So, why don't we have a little test before anything else?"

"W-wait! Y-you mean r-right here?" She stuttered. "Isn't this Professor Goodwitch's classroom?"

"Yeah, but it also serves as a training room when she's not using it. Do you see any other students around?" She shook her head. "Besides, I doubt Glynda would mind me using her room for a little while." That's what bothered her the most, if the scrunching of her small face was any indication.

"Won't she be surprised when we just start using her room all of the sudden?" She asked.

"She will. Now, come at me with everything you got, lil sis." She hesitated, though that was only in part of the fact that he was still unarmed. "Is baby sister still having second thoughts?" The teasing smile he gave her was almost — _almost_ insulting. Oh, it's on now!

Joan unclipped Crocea Mors before deploying the shield and dropping the blade in a standard stance, much like how he used to hold the sword and shield combo. Even though her aura was almost depleted, she was never one to back out from a fight.

"You're not wavering…" Jaune quipped. "That's good. Your enemy won't stop even if you've ran out of aura. The Grimm definitely won't." He reacted in time when white steel came crashing down on top of his head. But with a swift turn of his body, the blade cleaved into the ground. Fierce sky blue eyes met calm deep ocean blue eyes.

"And the Grimm would hardly wait for any of your words!" Joan roared and spun on her heels for a turning wheel kick. It breezed by when Jaune had leant back and swerved right back in, keeping his body low to the ground and took a page out of Ren's book.

While Joan was still in a pivot, Jaune had sweep her only supporting leg with one of his own, making the girl stumble back.

However, Joan immediately caught on to it and reached out to the ground. With her shield planted on the ground, she pushed back and sprang to her feet.

"You have good spatial awareness and good reaction timing." Jaune said. "Though, your footwork needs a bit of tuning but I guess it'll do for now." She didn't reply — only because, Jaune had already sprinted towards her at high speed.

He went of a high kick but Joan blocked it with her shield.

She winced at the brute force behind it. Her arm felt numb and she froze. "Don't freeze in the middle of a battle!" Jaune took advantage of it and kicked the hilt of her sword into the air. It twirled and landed in his hands. He swung in a wide arc and the blade headed for Joan's neck.

Of course, he would do something so dangerous and would just stop the blade before he could hit his sister. Though, he didn't expect for Joan to recover so quickly from her shock and brought the shield to the other side.

Steel hit steel as it rang out in the empty room.

But Joan doesn't seem to be finished. She ducked under the blade with her shield still connected to the blade. Along the way, she somehow managed to keep hold of his hand and hilt of the sword. Then, there came the kick to his chest. All of which were done in a matter of seconds.

Jaune was disarmed. He was impressed much more now than ever. All he could think about was how proud he was.

Her shield was already raised with the leveled blade screeching along the top of the shield. A determined face peered over the shield with narrowed eyes.

He saw this and huffed with a smile. "I think that's enough for the day." But Joan didn't look on board with the idea.

"What?!" She exclaimed. "But we just got started!"

"I know. But I already know more than enough. I never believed it at first but you really are using Crocea Mors just like how I used it." Jaune said. "Though, I noticed that you use your shield more often than the sword. You're well-verse in close quarters, too. I guess Mom taught you a few things."

"Mom and Dad said that if I'm going to Beacon, I might as well get some training in. But I wanted to get in the school just like you did." Jaune was… not surprised actually. Joan always wanted to follow after his footsteps being her role model and always seeking for attention that it was almost abnormal. He indulged her and the two of them formed a very close relationship. She always wanted to do something together that he feared that she wouldn't get any friends her age.

"That's a pretty stupid reason, Joan." He admonished.

"It got pretty well for you from my perspective." She rebutted.

"There are many things in life that doesn't always go your way." Jaune said. "I realized that after coming here that attending without training was one of the worst mistakes that I ever made. I only got to where I am now because of the good friends that I have."

Joan stayed silent. She always did listen to him — it showed when they were still young. "That just seems unfair."

"Life never is, sis. At least, you're here now and you're having your dream realized by attending here." He walked forward. "So, tomorrow's the weekend. Why don't you spend it with your teammates? Get to know them — socialize with other people that are not family for once. Who knows? Maybe you'll consider them family when you do." A hand ruffled her golden hair.

Jaune laughed when he heard her purr at the touch. It was almost too cute to ignore.

"We'll hold that training session next week. But we won't be going hard at it since all the first year will be having that trip to Forever Fall next weekend."

"Alright, Big Bro." She saluted to him with a huge grin. He never did get her mood swings sometimes. First, she was upset. Then, happy the next.

"Yeah, now get on going. Go to Vale and see the sights — and try not to eat _only_ chicken nuggets for dinner. Or I'm really gonna get angry for it." Jaune said.

"Hehe! No promises!" Joan quickly ran up the steps and exited the door. But before she could even reach the doorknob, it was swung open and revealed a girl with red hair. "Oh, Pyrrha! You didn't have to wait for me, you know?"

"It's quite fine, Joan." She said. "I'm your partner. It wouldn't do for me to leave without you."

Joan let out a nervous chuckle. "That's not exactly what a partner is but I guess you're still trying to cope with all this, I suppose." Joan added. "You really didn't have to worry too much. I was just talking with my brother."

"Well, it's what I wanted to do." Pyrrha smiled. "Besides, Ren and Nora are already waiting in the cafeteria for us. Why don't we head there now? Team RWBY might also be there now."

Joan's eyes brightened to a certain degree. "Really?!" Pyrrha nodded. "Now, why don't we get some chicken nuggets?!" Before Pyrrha could even get a word in, Joan had already started to run down the hallway towards the… wrong direction of the cafeteria.

Pyrrha sighed and looked back in the room. She saw Professor Arc still standing in the arena whilst looking right back at her. She turned away embarrassed when their eyes met, however, the professor had only smiled and waved at her.

It was a genuine smile. One that wasn't fake like hers, she noticed. It was hard to find someone who doesn't seem to mind her popularity and still treat her as if she was like any other girl. Though, she still didn't know him that much — only that he was Joan's brother and a kind professor.

Pyrrha nervously bowed a little to him with a little tinged of red on her cheeks and followed after Joan.

Now, what to do for the weekend?

 **—O—**

Neopolitan — that was her real name. The only person that can call her Neo was Roman and Jaune. She would threaten anyone who would call her by that name that wasn't the two. Speaking of Jaune, he returned and was willing to spend a little time with her.

She knew that he was busy with his new job but he was still indulgent with her despite his schedule. It wasn't like she had anything to do anyway. Neo was stuck in a musty old room — bored out of her mind and no ice cream stock in the fridge at the moment. Normally, she would get Roman to get her some ice cream and that would be the end of it.

But tonight, he wasn't here and was busy on a job for stealing dust. She could just break into the nearest ice cream parlor but she didn't want to get exposed so early in the game — Roman was pretty adamant about that.

She wished that something would just happen. At least, something exciting and dangerous would be fine now.

Neo was knocked out of her thoughts when there was a light knock on the door. Her mind was already racing at a mile per minute. Only a handful of people know where she and Roman actually are at the moment and even then, she could count them with two fingers.

This could either mean two things — someone they knew or not. Grabbing her parasol, her light steps couldn't be heard at the wooden floor which shouldn't give her away. She hid her parasol behind her and her appearance changed.

Now, she looked like a normal civilian with brown hair and purple eyes. Her clothing changed as well and was converted to a simple tee and short shorts.

Her hand was on the doorknob before she heard a knock again only this time a little louder.

She quickly opened the door and looked up at the visitor. Her eyes widened but reverted back to normal size. It was a hooded person with a white mask that covered the upper portion of his face. She could just make out the red hair that peeked out from under the hood. His lips were set on a thin line, hardly showing his displeasure of having waited long.

"Is Roman here?" She only tilted her head. "Don't play games with me, _human_. I know who you really are and I want to know where Roman is. Is he _here_?"

This time she didn't want to antagonize the man — if the clear indication of the showing of the black hilt under his clothes wasn't enough for her. She knew who this man was. He was famous, after all, and the person Jaune wanted dead than anyone else. She shook her head from side to side, eyes never leaving the man's body movements.

"A shame." He said. "Tell him that I want to see him and that I am here to take back control of the White Fang in Vale. Tell him… Adam Taurus is here."

* * *

 **A/N: Honestly, I think I did okay with this one. I mean, I'm really that confident - like 'you-know-it'll-be-okay' confident but I guess it's fine for now. And this is probably the longest chapter I've done for this story (considering the fact that I can basically write a 10K+ chapter without suffering repercussions, i.e. mental fatigue or some shite).**

 **Anyway, we gonna get Winter in the next chapter! Yay! Fanfare, fireworks! Since, she got a lot of love, she might as well come out already. I hope you guys are okay with the pacing. And we will be moving to our first Arc (Hehe, get it, eh? Eh?).**

 **So, I hope you guys enjoyed it and thanks again for the support it means a lot to me as a writer. And I hope that I can get another chapter in the coming weeks.**

 **That's all for now. This is BloodyCow, out!**


	7. Chapter 7

**It's been a long time since I posted a chapter in this story, huh? Sorry 'bout that, I've been lacking motivation as of late and I just can't bring myself to open my computer since I'm too lazy. Regardless of that, here's another chapter of 'A Promise to Keep'. But I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. 'Coz the next chapter's gonna be... indefinite. But I'll try to write just as much when I was back then.**

 **Anyway, enjoy that chapter!**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

Winter stepped off of her own personal bullhead, with a grace befitting that of a Schnee. A warm breeze wafted over the platform with a salty scent from the sea up north. It was just as Weiss had told her about Vale. She reveled in the sun shining down on Beacon, "It has been an awfully long time since I've set foot on this place..."

The soldiers behind her tensed when she stepped into the Beacon courtyard. They briskedly followed after her, matching her pace while keeping their distance. Her stern expression gave no emotions away while she emitted a heavy atmosphere. The students in the courtyard stopped their activities and froze in place.

Many people were looking on to her in fear while those that recognize her had looked at her with eyes of admiration. But amidst all the attention she was getting, Winter was unfazed through it all as she continued her trek towards the headmaster's office.

However, her slow trek came to a stop when someone blocked her way.

"Miss Schnee, it's a pleasure to see you again..." Glynda Goodwitch, the deputy headmistress of Beacon, was in her usual garb as a teacher of academy. Unlike the instructors in Atlas Academy where they all wore the same uniform – be it, a student or a teacher, Beacon was a bit more lax regarding their dress code.

Winter watched Glynda for a few seconds before nodding along, "Yes, Professor Goodwitch. It has been a long time since we have met. I believe it was during the time team JLIB were involved in the White Fang incident." She said, a hint of regret marring her looks for a brief moment. "The fault lies in my actions that night."

Shooting a glance at the soldiers behind them, the two men got the message and moved a bit farther away from them, giving them a little bit of privacy. "There is no one to blame for what had happened. Bartholomew and Jaune does not blame anyone for the deaths of their teammates – and that includes you and James as well." Glynda's hand fell down on the younger woman's soldier. "I'm sure Jaune would say the same in the matter."

Winter wasn't visibly shaken and while her mind had not been cleared of any doubts, it was somewhat manageable to keep her composure. "Speaking of which, how is he? I've never gotten much details from the general."

Glynda regarded her for a moment before confusion settled on her visage. "He is well. Did he not call you himself?" When Winter raised a fine brow and looked straight into Glynda's eyes, the deputy headmistress nodded with frown. "I'm starting to believe that he didn't do much for your end, has he?" With the shake of her head, Glynda sighed. "Of course, he didn't. Well, I'm just glad that Ozpin is keeping him occupied while I take you to him."

"Really?" Glynda nodded and motioned for her to the headmaster's tower. The rest of the trip to Ozpin's tower was spent talking with Glynda. When they reached the base of the tower, Winter's men were ordered to stand by at the tower's lobby.

The elevator ride up was spent in silence until Winter asked, "He doesn't know I'm here, does he?"

"I am sure he does, but doesn't know if it will be you that will be coming from Atlas as their liaison." She turned to Glynda for another question but she was interrupted when the elevator opened to reveal Ozpin's office. It wasn't the first time she visited the headmaster's office with her being the commander of the specialists and a head of Ironwood's security details. But it still does not fail to amaze her of the clockwork of a bygone era. The constant ticking of gears nearly drowning out the entire room.

On one side of the room, there was a cupboard, a book shelf and a table with a set of cups and a thermos – which she assumed would be coffee, considering that every time she saw the headmaster; he was always holding a cup of coffee.

On the other side, a small table with a vintage chess board and polished wooden pieces on top and a set of chairs on either side of the table. Jaune and Ozpin were in the middle of playing chess – both of which were wearing unreadable expressions at the moment.

Each of them only had a number of pieces left and all of them were strategically placed on the board. Though, they didn't have to wait long for Ozpin to call out, "Checkmate." She heard Jaune groan, "That's my third straight win of the day, Jaune."

"Yeah, yeah, rub it my face, why don't ya..." Jaune grumbled, running a hand down his face. "I swear to the gods above that you're cheating whenever we play."

"On the contrary, I believe it has something to do with impatience in your part. While you are a great combatant and a good tactitian, you do not make use of those whenever we play a game of chess." Shaking his head, Ozpin glanced towards the two women in the room.

Jaune sighed, "This is one of those things that I really don't like about you, Oz. I'm sure Qrow would say the same." Ozpin gave a mirthful chuckle. "You don't believe me? Why don't we give Qrow a call now and let us know what he thinks."

"As much as the idea of trying to prove yourself right seems interesting, we both have guests to attend to." Giving Ozpin a quizzical look, Jaune followed Ozpin's gaze behind him and saw what he was referring to. Eyes widened in surprise and his face has gone down several shades paler.

In truth, Winter took a hidden pleasure in seeing his panicked expression. Taking a glance at Glynda and one look at the smirk adorned on her face suggests that she did, too.

Ozpin moved from the seat by the chess table to the oval desk that he kept in his office. It was a glass table with several holographic interfaces displayed. There laid several musty old books on top that seemed worn off by time and not by use, none of which had any titles to indicate their topics or subject matter.

The soft clank of metal striking glass reverberated throughout the office amidst the clicking of the large gears above. She knew for a fact that the cane that he was holding was his weapon – a detail that Jaune shared to her when she met Ozpin the first time around.

The headmaster sat down on his reclining chair as he looked at her and gestured to the chairs adjacent to the oval glass desk. "I prefer to stand, headmaster." To which, she replied. Being trained to be disciplined with proper military etiquette, it was by habit that she took to her military training.

"Please, we would be here discussing important details and it would be better if you are comfortable to inform us when seated." Winter hesitantly nodded to the headmaster's words and sat down – albeit, rigidly on the chair. She glanced at Jaune's form, which was leaning on a column on one side of the office. Slate blue met ocean blue – Jaune was the first to look away with an almost bashful expression. She will keep that tiny tidbit in mind for later.

"It is a pleasure to see you again, Headmaster." She said, more to keep appearances than truthfully meaning it.

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Schnee." Ozpin said, "Before we begin, is there something that James wants to relay towards me? I haven't spoken to him in months, now."

"At the moment, there is no information regarding the details of the White Fang in Solitas and Anime or anything else related to the threat of the Grimm." She paused before directing her attention to Jaune. "However, sources indicate that White Fang activity will increase in the coming months here in Vale."

The headmaster adopted a thoughtful expression, "From which sources have you gathered this?"

"Unfortunately, due to compartmentalization of information, it has been deemed classified by General Ironwood and the other council members until such further notice that it is needed to be shared to other kingdoms – only those in the upper echelon know who it came from." Winter said, almost robotically. It was another habit of hers whenever regaling information. She could already see the gears running in the headmaster's head when he didn't drop his thoughtful visage.

On the side, she heard Glynda groaned in exasperation – not in disgust or resentment but in knowing annoyance that Jaune shared. "Still the snake that they are, aren't they?" Glynda said, with a hint of venom, not directed at Atlas or herself but to the council members – including the General.

However, she didn't refute the statement, knowing full well how corrupted the council are these days – and it wasn't limited to Atlas, itself. Almost all members of the council in every part of Remnant are like that.

"It doesn't matter for now." Jaune began, "What matters is that the White Fang are operating in Vale, and someone needs to keep an eye or two out on the streets. We need to call Qrow for thi-"

"No," Ozpin interrupted, making Jaune frown. "Qrow is on an important mission at the moment. We must not be a nuisance to him." She heard Jaune huff.

"This is Qrow we're talking about – he'll gladly take any chance he could get to take a break." Ozpin shook his head with an amused glimmer of a smile. "Who do you want in the city to keep an eye on things? I'll gladly go – but since you put me in this position," Jaune added with a non-threatening glare directed at Ozpin. "I can't spend all of my time in Vale."

"There is no one that will be more suitable than I in this task." Jaune and Ozpin were interrupted by Winterand looked at her with questioning looks. "I have been sent by the general to keep the White Fang in check in an undisclosed time frame."

"That means you will stay here until the White Fang threat in Vale is gone?" Glynda asked, with an incredulous widening of her emerald eyes. "James allowed this?" Winter nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders while giving her a glance.

"It was his orders for me to do so. He also told me that it was a way to redeem himself, he says." She said, though she didn't know what the general meant by what he said. But she thought that it had something to do with Jaune and his team.

Winter remembered the day before his team set out for the escort mission. His partner had ask the general for a favor but that was it. Maybe, there was something more to it than that. Or maybe, she was reading too much into it.

"James is paranoid, Glynda." Ozpin added, "He would do anything to stop the White Fang threat whether it would be in any part of Remnant. And once he heard wind of White Fang activity here in Vale, he sent one of his best agents to investigate." A nod from Winter confirmed his words.

"In any case, I will be staying in Vale for the foreseeable future and hope that I can be of service in case of emergencies while I try to find any White Fang activities in the area." Winter stood from her chair and nodded at the headmaster, "If you have any need of me, headmaster, Miss Goodwitch knows my contact details and I will be staying in Vale."

"Won't you lodge here in Beacon? We have spare and clean rooms that you can have a use for..." Glynda said before she could leave.

"I believe that would be much appreciated. However, I must contact some of the local informants that we have stationed in Vale, first. I will try to keep in touch and come back here before sundown." Glynda's smile and nod was enough of an acknowledgement. Winter turned to the headmaster and said her farewells and headed towards the elevator.

From the peripherals of her vision, she saw Jaune whisper into Glynda's ears before moving towards the elevators himself. When she got in, Jaune followed

In the meeting, she was already doing her best to be composed in front of the headmaster and Glynda, she knew that he knew she was feeling agitated from having to see him for the first time in years and for this conversation to not be the first in her agenda.

It was all business inside Ozpin's office but when it came to be just the two of them, it was already personal. She remembered those days when Jaune had lost his teammates, he was cold and bitter – damning the world as he see fit without any regard for the people that were close to him.

Winter understood just what Leona and Iris meant to him. He was supposed to propose to her for godsake. She knew that it'd hurt him but never to the extent of what he and she went through. Not to mention, the way their last conversation ended – heated words were exchanged with no filter, feelings were more than just hurt and their friendship was almost severed when both of them acted the way they did.

It was her fault for prodding too much when he didn't want to, but the fault doesn't fall just with her. He wasn't really helping with the way his cold attitude and frayed nerves were doing to his emotions. It was a combined effort at most...

So when he just stood there looking at everything but herself, it got to her nerves.

"Well?" Winter started. "Is there something you want to say?" Her voice sounding almost too cold and bitter.

His hand unconsciously scratched the back of his head and nape – a habit of his whenever he's feeling a bit agitated or extremely nervous. "I guess an apology is in order." Jaune meekly said, earning him a raised fine brow. "Okay, a lot of apologies." He paused taking a chance to glance at her ice blue eyes again. "Where do you want me to start?"

Jaune heard Winter hum in thought – a finger tapping her chin. "How about the way you left without saying a word to anyone? How about the way my closest friend had almost cut ties with me for being so stubborn?" He flinched and grimaced at the blunt words that Winter sent his way. "Did you know what I felt when you left the way you did? The way you casted me and everyone away for your own selfish reason?"

Her tongue was sharp but it didn't compare to when _he_ gave her a reprisal for her prodding back then.

"I'm sorry for everyth–"

"You should be!" His eyes widened and his body was stiff as he was forcefully turned to face her, cold icy blue eyes bored into his. Winter never shouted – their voices whenever they banter would occasionally rise, but she never shouted. Neither in anger or embarrassment, this was new to him and her. "But that's just it, you say it like its the magic word for everything everytime you fuck up!" Nor did she ever swear, even in the most dire of situations. "Did you expect that if you say sorry when you come back everything is forgiven? That everyone you know would be expected to accept every wrong thing you do?" Her finger jabbed into his chest but she made no more move to do anything besides that. "I thought that I lost a friend when you left – in more ways than one..." She muttered and it was quiet enough the she was sure that it was heard.

"I know..." Icy blue glared at ocean blue. It was a stare that made even the toughest of her soldiers flinch the moment their eyes made contact. However, there was a serene gaze that looked down to her. It was those eyes that made him stand out the first time they met. "I was an asshole – a fool for mistreating my friends the way I did. I still am... and you didn't deserved it. You were only there to help me grieve but I pushed you and many others away." He sighed and grabbed the hand that was jabbing him with a finger. "If it's any consolation, I regretted everything that I've done. And if given a chance, I'd do anything to make it right again."

They stared at each other for a few more long moments, before Winter broke eye contact. "Gods, Leona did warn me you were such a sweet talker... even if it is cliché and cheesy." A humurous laugh resound in the small room of the elevator. It was melodic and nostalgic even. "Please don't tell me that was how you roped Leona into a relationship with you?" It was bordering the territory where topics shouldn't be discussed, but Jaune didn't seem to mind one bit or at least, it was a topic that was on a tolerable level. And he smiled – an infectious one, as Winter's lip curved into a broad and genuine smile. One that she hadn't done in years.

"Believe it or not, it was because I serenaded her back then in our last year." The smile on his face brightened, "Iris said that I was horrible – even Bart said something along those lines. But Leona, oh, she laughed. Laughed harder when I started to sing. Well, I wasn't really trying, though. It was one of the things that I like about her."

"Yes, yes. I know." She rolled her eyes when he told her. It was a story that Leona often talked to her about and kept repeating. "Even I can attest to that..." She trailed off, when Jaune's eyes clouded with an emotion that she was more than familiar with. "Jaune?"

He shook his head and closed his eyes, "No, it's nothing. Just thinking that maybe it's time to move on from their deaths." Unconsciously, Winter's hand reached up to cup his face but the hesitation was evident when she stopped midway. "Many people told me to move on. And I've been grieving for a long time... but I can only have that peace of mind when that _son of a bitch_ is either behind bars or on the other end of my blade." Her hand dropped to her side, instead, she took a step closer to him – barely any space in between them. It surprised Jaune but didn't comment on what she did.

Her gaze met his for another time and she held it firmly. "We will find him, Jaune." Her eyes softened and for a moment, she wasn't the hardened, trained, and cold soldier that she was. "I promised you before that I will help you find him and I will do everything in my power to do so. They were my friends, too."

"Thanks..." His expression returned to the amused one earlier. She saw a brief twinkle in his eyes – it either meant that he had a brilliant idea to anything or he was just planning something mischievous. Back when his entire team was still alive, he had quite a mischievous streak despite being a cunning and brilliant leader – no, maybe, because he was like that that he was full of mischief. "Though, I didn't think that the Winter Schnee of Atlas with the disposition of an cold hearted ice queen would have friends." The grin he held wasn't mirrored. Instead, she drew back her arm and threw a fist towards his shoulder. An aura-enhanced one at that.

His cry of pain was brief and he sent her a glare – she didn't back down from it. It was just the same old Jaune doing his usual antics.

— **O—**

The dark room that he's in didn't hide the way he scowled when he heard the news from Neo. Trembling fingers reached for a cigar under his coat's pocket nor did it stop when his lighter sparked into life. Puffing once, twice – three times, his nerves seemingly calming when the tobacco smoke entered his lungs.

Neo was in the corner of the dimly lit room, deep into her own thoughts on the matter. His deal with his boss was almost called off when Adam Taurus got back into the picture – it seemed that replacing the previous leader of the White Fang from her position had done wonders on the already inflated head of their favorite psycopath. Was it Selina? Serina Khan? Well, it didn't matter and when Roman's skills were in question, his boss thought that they still had a need for him and that was preventing him from being another body in the Vale Docks.

Thank the gods for small mercies...

"This is way beyond our heads..." He muttered under his breath, but when he glanced at Neo – who surprisingly had a look that said, 'Way to go, Captain Obvious.' in a not-so condescending way. "Hey, you try to make a deal with the devil and let's see how things will go for you." He thought for a moment before a metaphorical bulb lit in his head. "Why don't we just tell the Arc kid about this? He's had a grudge on Taurus for years now. This tidbit of news should get rid of him for us." Before he could stand up, grab his scroll and call Jaune at that moment, a thin blade that he was very familiar with was drawn to his throat and a threatening shimmer of light flashed at the blade's reflective metal.

His eyes slowly sought after brown and pink eyes and saw an unamused glare directed at him.

"What?" An eyebrow was raised and her eyes rolled, "You think that telling Jaune is a bad idea, somehow?" When she agreed, it only managed to confuse Roman more than it should. "Dear, dear Neo. If siccing Adam with Jaune is a bad idea, then please do tell what your amazing reasoning is for it." Her response was a sharp stiletto to his foot. Hearing his yelp of pain brought a satisfying grin to her face as she sashayed towards the unoccupied couch opposite of his.

He knew Neo wasn't a sadist by nature but she rather liked to play around with her prey and she would prolong their torture by driving a blade to their kneecaps and... okay, maybe she was a little sadistic. So, he shouldn't really be surprised by how she was taking pleasure on the pain of her boss.

"If you weren't such a kleptomaniac, I would've kicked you out by now." Neo gestured with a mock bow with a pleased expression on her. "So, care to tell me why, now? Because I'm sure the kid would want to tear that asshole a new one – I mean, isn't that the point why Jaune-y's gone after the White Fang for two years? Taurus is here in Vale and Jaune's here, too. I think setting those two up would be a matchmade in Heaven." Wasn't this nice of him to think of his acquaintances like this? Setting them up – almost feels like he was a matchmaker, ugh.

However, Neo definitely had something else entirely on her mind. Heaving out an inaudible sigh, Neo pulled out her scroll and began typing. There were times when even Roman – himself – couldn't distinguish what Neo would say through all of her gestures and hand signals. Sometimes, it was best to just let the other party read out loud what it was she was thinking or trying to say.

As Roman started to read, he gradually comes to an understanding of what Neo was trying to say... somewhat. "So, you don't want that to happen because you think the Arc would go ballistic about this and try to go for a manhunt in Vale and try to kill whatever goes in his way... ?" Roman looked up for a moment to study Neo who was not annoying for once. "Sentiment, huh?" Neo shrugged while looking away. But Roman had let out an amused chuckle, "You've always been attached to him, right? Okay, I won't tell him but if he finds out that Taurus is in town, I'll point where that crazy is. If he asks, we'll give him a hand."

Neo snatched her scroll from his hands and typed, 'That much should be obvious.'

* * *

 **No A/N here. Though, I'm surprised you still read through this. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Bloodycow, out!**


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